Take What I Can Get
by ScaliaFics94
Summary: Lydia's facing the possibility of not having Stiles in her life permanently and trying to figure out how to tell him he's the one. When he gets hurt on a scouting mission, Lydia's faced with the thought of Stiles not being there to love, and Stiles couldn't be more blind about Lydia's feelings for him. Stiles is worried about Scott and Malia getting closer. OG character returns.
1. Chapter 1

We all know what it feels like after a season finale of any show and you turn to fanfiction to tide you over until the show returns. I'm such Stydia trash, so here you go.

The song for this fic/first chapter is Matthew Mayfield – Take What I Can Get

LYDIA'S POV:

With the passing of three months since everything that happened with the Dread Doctors, Theo, and The Beast, things had calmed down a bit. We had a chance to focus on our senior year, those of us that were graduating this semester. Not that I brought it up to Scott, but I was nervous for Kira. We hadn't heard from her in two months. We didn't know when or if she was coming back. Scott rarely liked to talk about it. I loved Kira like a sister, but if she kept stringing Scott along I'd have to have a stern talking with her.

The pack was doing alright. Malia still dealt with her mom issues, with the help of Braeden and Stiles. Liam and Hayden were madly in love, reminding me so much of Scott and Allison. Mason and Cory were taking things slow, what with Mason still recovering from being The Beast. Mason was still his lovable self, he just had to get used to life after being body-snatched. Scott was focusing on finishing senior year. He had worked more with Deaton lately when he wasn't practicing Lacrosse with Liam and Stiles.

And Stiles…Stiles was calling me.

"Stiles," I answered quickly, with my heart in my throat. "Are you okay?"

He let out a relieved sigh. "Yeah. Yeah, I was checking on you. Scott said he found something suspicious with Deaton. I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

A smile tugged at my lips.

"You're okay, aren't you?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay. What about you?"

He laughed his calming laugh. "You already asked me that."

My lips pursed. "Oh."

Someone cleared their throat.

I glanced over at Jordan. Shit. I totally zoned out on the movie we were watching and completely forgot where I was. My reddened cheeks sobered me up from Stiles' affect. He didn't look happy with me.

"Hey, I'm at Jordan's right now. I'll call you later or something. Or you can call me. Whatever." I stuttered.

He paused for a few seconds, then cleared his throat. "Okay. Be safe."

My heart clenched at our pending goodbye. I didn't want to stop talking to him. Ever.

"You, too." I hung up. When I turned back to Jordan he had his arms folded across his chest with a clenched jaw. "Sorry about that. Scott and Deaton think there might be paranormal activity roaming around town. What else is new?" I asked rhetorically.

He ignored me and stared at the flat screen mounted to his bedroom wall.

I huffed. "Look, I've just had a lot on my mind lately. Especially with this being my senior year. I'm sorry I wasn't watching the movie." I planted a kiss on his cheek. "It won't happen again."

He turned to me. "What's the deal with you and Stiles? I know I'm running the risk of sounding like a jealous boyfriend, but I have to ask." His eyes worried.

My head shook. "Nothing." I gave a reassuring grin. "We're just friends."

"Just friends? That's it?"

"Yes."

Technically, I wasn't lying. Stiles and I were just friends. Jordan didn't need to know about Stiles' life long crush on me or my beading interest in the honey eyed hottie. Stiles had moved on. He'd always be worried about me. We were best friends. We were family.

It wasn't that I didn't know on some level that Stiles would always love me. Or that I was so heartless to play games with Jordan and Stiles. Or that I didn't acknowledge how I felt about Stiles. I just…couldn't go there with him.

This was our senior year, the start of our second semester to be exact. I had wasted so much time ignoring Stiles and what I felt for him. Now that we're all close to moving in different directions it seemed like a bad idea to even pursue it. And I wanted to, believe me, but this just wasn't our time. Nor was it fair to tell Stiles all of this and mess with his head when he was so close to being happy on his own. He had a lot to offer to this world and I didn't want to hold him back.

A bittersweet grin found my mouth.

"I admit, Stiles and I aren't just friends. We're more than that. We're each other's emotional tethers, that's something that's never going to go away."

Jordan nodded. "So I don't have any reason to be worried?"

My head shook. "Not until summer."

We both agreed that what we had was nice and while we cared about each other we knew that this wasn't going to make it long distance. I'm sure if we really tried it could work, but this wasn't a love of my life situation. Because I wasn't in love with Jordan Parrish. Not like how I was with Stiles Stilinski. _That_ love I felt deep in my heat, in my dreams, and in my bones.

I left after that. Staying over any longer felt wrong. When I got to my house I just sat in my parked car for a while. Our winter break would be ending soon and we'd be one step closer to graduation. I didn't like the idea of us all splitting up, but it was bound to happen sometime. That didn't mean I was ready for it.

My phone dinged. I reached into the console to pick up only to read a group message from Scott. He wanted to hold a pack meeting at his house. Great. I just wanted to curl up by myself. Times like these I really missed Allison. No matter how much I loved Kira and Malia they could never replace her.

When I arrived at Scott's everyone was already there, which was to be expected considering I spent thirty minutes preparing myself mentally to see Stiles.

My heart hammered as I walked up the path. Most of everyone in there could hear it if they were listening, they knew it was me. I felt like everyone but Stiles knew how I felt about him at this point. It wasn't hard to guess; Stiles was just oblivious.

I grasped the doorknob and pushed it open. I couldn't get like this every time I saw Stiles, but I couldn't help it. He was my tether. My heart dipped as I went to the kitchen where everyone stood.

"This isn't even a serious threat. We don't even know who it is. Or _what_ it is." Liam voiced with Hayden by his side.

"Yeah, but we don't know what really happened to Theo." Scott said. "He could still be alive. He could be coming for us again."

My eyes immediately found Stiles leaning with his elbows on the isle. Malia and Braeden were sharing a concerned look while Mason stared at Jordan in a curious way.

"So how do your clothes not burn off when you go all Hellhound?" Mason asked.

Corey laughed.

Stiles' eyes landed on me. "Thank God, you're here." He announced.

Everyone looked at me.

"I was beginning to get worried."

I shrugged as if I hadn't spent a big chunk of time thinking about him, about us. "I needed to stop by my house." Which wasn't a total lie.

I stayed my distance and nodded at Jordan.

He grinned, but it didn't reach his eyes.

Braeden stepped forward. "Instead of arguing about whether it's a real threat, why don't we just go check it out ourselves?"

"And go looking for a fight?" Hayden asked.

Braeden shrugged. "If it comes to that. There's ten of us, excluding Kira."

Scott ducked his head for a second to compose himself.

"I think we can handle it." Braeden smirked.

"She's right." Malia added. Her hair had grown to a longer bob, which I really loved on her. "Going to check it out before it becomes a threat isn't a bad idea. Cut it off at the knees."

Scott nodded as we all looked to him. He glanced at each of us. "You guys up for that?"

"We'll do what has to be done." Stiles stood up straight, looking every part of handsome and brave. "We don't all have to go. Lydia can stay behind."

I shot him a look. "Hey,"

He grinned. "You have to go to an interview tomorrow. You need to be well rested."

Hayden chuckled.

My eyes rolled. "If you're going then I'm going." My arms folded across my chest.

Everyone looked between us.

Stiles cleared his throat, his gaze wary.

Embarrassment colored my cheeks. "I mean, if you're all going I'm going, too. We're pack. We do these things together."

I felt Jordan's gaze on me, but I couldn't look at him right now.

"She's right." Scott insisted. "We'll need every resource we can get if something goes wrong. Lydia's just as powerful as any one of us."

I tried not to beam at the compliment, but failed. "Thanks, Scott."

He grinned at me with a nod.

Stiles rolled his eyes. "Alright, then can we get a move on it cuz I'm hungry."

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. He was always hungry.

"Alright." Scott said. "Let's pair up. If anything comes up just howl." He glanced at me. "Or scream. We'll hear it and come running."

We all nodded.

I was about to go with Jordan when Scott called, "Parrish, I need you with me."

He nodded, then leaned down to kiss me.

No matter how much Stiles was over me I still felt weird about PDA with Jordon in front of him. Not that he cares. When I pulled away Stiles chatted with Malia and Braeden.

My lips pursed. That left me solo. Well, I could handle myself pretty well. Jordan taught me how to fight. Meredith taught me how to control my powers. Allison taught me how to be brave. In theory, I was an unstoppable force.

I was almost to the door when a hand grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me back.

"Where do you think you're going?" Stiles asked, his honey eyes expectant.

I shrugged. "It looked like you were going with Malia and Braeden. I was just going to go by myself."

He shook his head. "Careless." He walked past me.

"What? I am not. I can handle myself." I repeated the mantra that Allison always said. Look where that got her.

As if he had been thinking the same thing he nodded. "Even so, we don't know what's out there. I'm not letting you go by yourself."

My eyes rolled as I followed him. "Thanks dad."

He shot me a look as he headed for his jeep. "Ha ha."

I laughed at his sarcasm. "Come on, you know I could never see _you_ as my dad."

He held the passenger door open for me and waited until I hopped in. "Good, I was almost insulted for a second." He noticed the insensitivity of his comment a little too late and his forehead creased. "Lyds, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"I know." I waved it off.

He jumped in after a few seconds and we were off down the road.

The ride to the woods was fairly quiet. We had this weird air between us a lot lately when we were alone. Maybe it was my imagination. Maybe Stiles had realized how I felt about him and didn't want to hurt my feelings by leading me on. Maybe I was just an idiot. I'll go with the latter.

I looked to him. His long hair sticking up in multiple directions. His moles scattered across his skin. His cinnamon eyes that saw through me. His sarcastic mouth that was quick as a whip. His long fingers drummed on the wheel, which produced unchaste thoughts in my mind. His flannel shirts covered his lean and athletic body that I knew he had from Lacrosse, which was going to get him a scholarship to play somewhere, I was sure. Beautiful. He didn't even have to try.

He felt my gaze and looked over. "What?"

"Nothing." I broke my eyes away from him to stare out the window.

"Lydia, spit it out." He demanded.

A streak of arousal flashed through me at his authoritative tone. My legs crossed.

"It's just that this may be one of the last times we'll get to do this. Just you and me, I mean." I hesitantly looked at him.

He glanced at me, then stopped the jeep. Without another look my way he got out of the car.

I followed suit with a huff.

He leaned against the bumper, his arms folded across his chest, and those muscles bulged in his shirt. Had he been lifting weights?

"Lydia," He looked down at me. "I'm not sure what the future holds for us, but I do know that I'm only a call away whenever you need me." His golden eyes burned into mine. "To open a jar, to pick you up from a club, to beat up a jerk boyfriend."

A laugh bubbled from me. I was sure there wouldn't be any. At least, not any time soon.

"Same. Although, I'll take no prisoners if I have to get into a cat fight for you."

He grinned. "That'll be the day."

Little did he know.

"So, is everything okay with you and Parrish? He seemed a bit off tonight. Is he upset about something?"

I made a noncommittal noise. "I don't know. He's just worried, I guess."

"Come on, I'm sure you guys can handle long distance."

I bit my lip. "I'm sure we could if we were going to stay together after I graduate."

His brow furrowed. "You're not planning on staying together after senior year?"

Great. Now he was judging me.

He bumped my shoulder. "No judgement, Lyds. Just wondering why you're with him if you don't see it lasting."

The easy answer: It beats being alone while I pine for you.

"I do care about him, Stiles. I just…"

"Don't love him." He said it as more of a fact than a question.

For someone who saw me so clearly he sure was dimwitted not to see how I felt about him.

A huff left me as I stared forward. "Ever since Jackson left and Allison and Aiden died, it hasn't been easy to love someone again." Besides You. Loving you has been incredibly easy.

His hand grabbed mine and squeezed. "You won't feel like this forever, I promise."

Tears pricked my eyes, but I blinked them away.

"One day you're going to find the right person and they'll make you forget all the pain. And you'll be really happy. I'll have to make sure they're not a lizard person or a bad werewolf first,"

I laughed and he joined in. Our faces incredibly close.

"But I'll be there to tell you I told you so."

My fingers interlaced with his. "You promise?"

He leaned his forehead down to mine. "I promise."

My heart did jumping jacks on pre-workout. I let out a shocked breath, but didn't move a muscle. His hand came up to caress my cheek, sending firings straight to my funhouse.

"We're going to be fine."

I instinctively leaned into his warm and safe touch. No one could ever make me feel like Stiles as long as I lived. He was in my veins. He was the best guy I knew and his mouth was right there for me to take. What the hell, right? On impulse I moved an inch only to have him press a kiss on my forehead.

My eyes widened in shock as my mouth hung open. Thank God he couldn't see me. Rejection coursed through me. Okay, well…A pint of ice cream had my name on it when I got home.

He let me go. "You ready?"

I nodded.

He reached into Roscoe and pulled out an aluminum bat. "Let's do this."

I refrained from laughter. It was time to get serious. We had to keep our eyes peeled.

It was maybe ten minutes before we heard a ruffling. Stiles pulled me to him. We looked around as the noise came again.

"Who's there?" I yelled.

"Lydia, really?"

"What? It could be one of us and we're worried about nothing." I retorted.

A growl came to our ears. One of our own wouldn't growl at _us_ in response, knowing we couldn't growl back.

"What the hell was that?" I muttered.

Just then a dark coated creature came from the brush. My heart stopped in my chest as I stood stock still.

"Stiles." I whispered. "Don't move."

Of course, he ignored me to see the threat.

"Shit."

How the hell did a black jaguar get to North America, let alone California?

Stiles shoved me behind him protectively.

The jaguar licked its teeth as it stalked us with hunger in its green eyes.

"Stiles, no!"

"Lydia, stay behind me!" He demanded.

The jaguar was to pounce any second. It would no doubt kill Stiles first. I couldn't let that happen.

I yanked Stiles to the ground as I rushed forward. "NO!" I screamed at it.

Stiles cried out behind me.

The predator flew back into the air and hit a tree from the impact of my scream. With much power, the jaguar got to its feet and ran off into the night.

"Lydia?"

I turned back to Stiles. My heart stopped in my chest.

"No." I begged.

He had fell into a trap, he leg lodged into it. Blood dripped down his jeans as pain etched on his beautiful face.

I rushed to him. "Shit, Stiles. I'm so sorry." Tears filled my eyes.

"It's not your fault."

I begged to disagree, I pushed him back into the damn trap.

"Call Scott."

My hands fumbled for my phone in my cardigan pocket. I dialed the number and put it on speaker.

"Hey, I heard you scream. What happened?"

For the life of me I couldn't form words and I wasn't sure why. All I could do was look at the trap on his leg.

"Scott, there's a black jaguar on the loose. It tried to hurt us, but Lydia drove it away. But there was an accident, my leg's in an animal trap. Just come get it off and Lydia will drive me to the hospital." He groaned. "See you in a few." He hung up.

Tears fell down my face. I tried to help and I ended up hurting the one person I never wanted to feel pain.

"Lydia, it's okay. It was an accident." He squeezed my shoulder in comfort.

Example A of why I loved Stiles; he always put my needs in front of his own. Here he was in desperate pain and he was making sure I was okay.

I wiped my tears away with purpose. I had to get it off of him.

Before he could figure out what I was doing my hands were pulling on the trap. He screamed in agony. I refrained from crying out. The claws were digging into my hands, my blood mixed with his.

"No, just leave it alone. Scott will get it."

My eyes met his. "I can't just wait until Scott gets here." Desperation clear in my voice.

I tried with all my might to get the claws out of his leg, but I only ended up hurting him more. Anger filled me. This was just one instance of many where Stiles got hurt trying to protect me. He deserved better than that.

"Lydia, it's okay." He insisted, a bead of sweat on his pale skin.

My head shook. I didn't accept that.

"Stiles!" Scott called from the distance. "Lydia!"

"We're over here!" Stiles called back.

The shuffle of multiple pairs of feet came closer.

I could do this! I needed to do this! To prove that his love for me didn't always result in suffering.

"Lydia, what are you doing?" Scott asked.

A new strength found me as I yelled in pain the claws started to budge. A few seconds later they started to collapse again. My eyes went to Stiles. He had passed out from the pain.

"Ahh!" I screamed as I pulled the claws apart.

Scott rushed to lift his leg out of the trap. Jordan and Liam held the claw apart while I pulled my bloodied and crushed hands out of the way.

"What were you thinking?" Jordan demanded, worry in his voice. "Your hands Lydia."

I didn't care about my stupid hands. I wiped them on my dress before going to Stiles.

"Lydia, how did you do that?" Hayden asked.

I shrugged. "Is he going to be okay, Scott?"

From the worried look on his face I'd say we better get a move on it.

"Let's get him to the hospital." Jordan said. "He's losing a lot of blood."

Scott nodded, frozen in place.

"Help me get him to the car, Liam." Jordan asked.

Scott stood there, fear in his eyes. "He'll be okay."

Hayden hugged me to her side. "You can ride with me and Liam. We have to get you bandaged up."

My head shook. "No, I'm not leaving him like that." I grabbed Stiles' bat, then walked forward and jumped into the back of the jeep where they laid Stiles down. I put his head in my lap, careful not move him too much.

Jordan put the pedal to the metal as we sped to the hospital. Liam handed me tissue from the passenger seat.

Was I still crying? I checked my face and it was slick with tears, but I wasn't crying anymore.

"To stop the blood." He insisted.

I deadpanned. "With a fucking tissue?" I pulled off my cardigan.

"Geez lady."

My eyes rolled as I wrapped my cardigan around his leg. I wasn't sure it would do much, but it was better than a tissue. Stiles looked so peaceful despite his current state. I couldn't stop my bleeding hands from caressing his face.

"You're going to be okay." I muttered more to myself than him.

"Shit." Jordan cursed.

"What's wr-" I looked up to see the massive traffic jam before us. Car horns blared. People shouted at one another to move.

Stiles muttered something under his breath, but I couldn't make it out. He started to squirm.

"Is he okay?" Jordan asked.

A frothing came from his mouth. My heart raced in my chest. He wasn't squirming. He was seizing.


	2. For You

Sorry for the mistakes guy! I'll go back in later and fix them. I woke up early to write this and now I'm gonna be late for work haha. Thanks for reading! Please leave a review :)

LYDIA'S POV:

"Lydia, what's happening to him?" Liam asked frantically.

I wasn't sure what to do besides turn him on his side and but something between his teeth so they wouldn't shatter.

"He's seizing! Can we go another way?" My eyes hopefully searched around us, but I wasn't able to find a way out with more cars piling up behind us.

"There is no other way." Jordan insisted with fear in his voice. "You have to call Scott. He has to run him there."

I found my phone with shaky hands.

"No, let me do it." Liam insisted. He turned around to face me, a plea in his eyes. "Please, I can make there quicker. It'll take Scott time to get here, time that we don't have."

Sure, I was skeptical. Liam was like half as tall as Stiles, but he was super strong. This was Stiles' life we were talking about. Every second counted.

I nodded. "Hurry."

Liam rushed to pick him up. With a reassuring nod he ran off down the street until I couldn't see Stiles anymore.

If anything happened to him, I don't know what I'd do. Probably become a nun.

"Stiles is going to be okay." Jordan assured.

My heart was in my throat, it felt like I was going to throw up. I felt incredibly antsy. After a few minutes my patience waned.

Finally, I unbuckled my seatbelt and jumped out the jeep.

"Lydia, where are you going?" Jordan yelled after me.

I huffed. "I can't just wait here for this traffic jam to clear, I have to go to him."

His eyes narrowed.

"He's dying," My hand went to my chest. "I can feel it. So I can't just sit there!"

"Fine, I'll come with you." He moved to get out of the jeep.

"No, you can't just leave Roscoe here. Stiles will have a conniption." I shouted before running down the street.

I was sure I looked like a lunatic covered in blood with a crazed look in my eyes, but I couldn't think about people's perceptions of me right now. If Stiles was dying, then I didn't have that luxury. I needed to be there with him.

When I arrived I frantically searched for a help desk. I just needed to find Stiles. With any luck he was in surgery, his leg was pretty messed up.

"Miss, you really need to see someone. You're hurt pretty badly."

My head shook. "No, I'm fine." I held my hands to my dress. "My friend is here and I just need to know what's going on with him. Stilinski. Stiles Stilinski." I paused when they gave me a look.

Shit. I just realized I didn't know how real first name. I'm sure I've heard it before. He would always be "Stiles" to me.

"He's under Stilinski. The Sheriff's son."

She nodded. "Okay, but we really need to let you see a nurse."

I exhaled loudly. "You're not hearing me. I don't care about my damn hands, I just want to see my fr-"

"Lydia?" A familiar motherly voice called from behind me.

I rushed to Melissa. "Thank God. It's Stiles, he's been in an accident."

She surveyed me, grabbed my hands and flipped them palms up. "What happened to you?"

The nurses were still in listening range, so I scooted us over so we could talk more privately. "We went to check out a possible threat in the woods and Stiles and I came across a black jaguar. When I pushed him back he landed on the trap." I whispered. My eyes felt hot. "I thought he would be safe, but I just ended up…" My chin trembled. "He's going to die because of me."

Her head shook, that mothering look on her face. "No, he's not. Stiles is a fighter, you know that." She nodded to the nurses behind us. "Come on, let me get you cleaned up."

"No, Stiles needs-"

"Stiles needs you to be alive when he gets out of surgery, so let me take care of your hands." She tugged me along.

After a few minutes I started to get antsy again. Who was I kidding? I never stopped.

My leg bounced up and down. "Is it going to be much longer?"

She gave me a look. "Lydia, you do realize that surgery takes a while? Even when I finish he won't be done with for probably another hour or so."

Yeah, she was right.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

"Could you grab that for me and put it on speaker? It's probably Scott."

Melissa did just that.

"Lydia," He said as I answered. "Parrish said you ran to the hospital. Are you okay? We're almost there."

"I'm fine. Your mom is bandaging my hands. Stiles is in surgery. Liam had to run him here, there was a massive traffic jam."

He sighed. "Yeah, I know. Is Liam with you?"

I totally forgotten that he was here.

"Uh, no. He's probably waiting for someone to get here. I'll call him."

Malia and Corey said something in the background that I couldn't make out, but I heard Hayden ask if I was okay. Scott told her I was fine.

"Actually, don't worry about it. We're on our way to find him then we'll find you."

My heart tugged. I loved that I had this family of friends. One of the many reasons I was grateful to Peter for biting me. I couldn't imagine still being the person I was before I knew about any of this supernatural stuff.

"Okay, see you in a few."

He hung up.

A few minutes later Scott and everyone rushed through the doors of our cornered off spot. Everyone looked worried was putting it mildly. Malia almost had tears in her eyes, but she blinked them away before anyone but me could see.

"I'm okay guys, really." I put on a grin.

Liam shook his head. "I've never seen anyone who didn't have super strength do anything like that." He surveyed my hands. "It's a miracle you still have hands."

I let out a laugh. "It wasn't that big of a deal."

Malia shoved my shoulder. "You could've really gotten hurt." She smacked my boob for good measure.

My hand went to my violated tit.

"Don't ever do that again." Jordan squeezed my shoulder.

"Agreed. You're too important. We need you around." Scott offered a small smile.

I nodded. "Yeah, but it was Stiles. What did you want me to do? Let him die from blood loss?"

Scott narrowed his eyes at me. "I was only a minute away."

My eyes rolled.

"Do you have any updates on Stiles?" Hayden asked Melissa.

She looked at the young girl wrapped around Liam's arms with sad eyes, probably thinking how much they reminded me of Scott and Allison. She shook her head. "No, as soon as I've finished bandaging Lydia's hands I'll go check on it." She offered a smile.

When she was done she ushered us to a waiting area where we sent positive vibes Stiles' way. I wanted to wait outside of the operating room, but figured that would only land me in the looney bin, so I sat patiently by Jordan's side as he rubbed my back.

"He's going to be okay." He kept saying.

It had been an hour and half or so before Melissa returned with a furrowed brow. "He's out of surgery."

I shot up. "Can we see him?"

She shook her head. "He's resting right now, but I'll let you check out the room." She motioned for us to follow.

"Uh, I'm going to stay back and save our seats." Hayden muttered.

We looked back at the saddened girl. She probably didn't want to even see Stiles like that, not that I blamed her. I wasn't partial on seeing Stiles in this condition, but my concern for him far outweighed any pretenses about my mental state.

Scott grabbed my hand as we ghosted down the halls, which I was glad for. Jordan just wasn't cutting it. I wish he could because he was a great guy and he treated me well, plus he was genuinely worried about Stiles. But he wasn't enough. I just didn't know how to let him go.

"There's one thing I didn't want to say out there." Melissa started as she looked back at us. "He's running a fever. We've given him something to take it down." She walked a little closer to us, her eyes on Scott. "There was some kind of poison. They're still running tests." She lowered her voice as people pasted us. "Whatever you ran in with in the woods might've been the real target, but just to be on the safe side you might want to stay out of the woods."

"What if it attacks someone else?" Braeden voiced. "It almost killed Stiles and Lydia tonight."

Melissa nodded. "Yeah, but you all went out looking for a predator in its habitat. All I'm saying is just be more careful." She pulled Scott's cheek close to kiss it. "Love you guys," She eyed us in a demanding way only a mother could. "Try to stay out of trouble, yeah?"

"Yes, ma'am." We all said in unison.

She seemed please. "I'll check back with you as soon as I have more information. Stiles' room is right there on the left." She swatted Scott on the behind.

His face turned red. "Mom." He whined.

Jordan laughed at him. "Dude your-"

Scott silenced him with a look.

"Alright." Jordan wiped the smile off his face.

I grinned at them, then peeped my head in the door.

There he was, just resting. He tossed a little.

Without a second thought, I went to his side with worry in my heart.

"Lydia," Mason called. "We're not supposed-"

"Let her go." Scott told him.

There was still a sheen of sweat on his pale skin. That did nothing to ease my frantic mind or this feeling of approaching death. The back of my hand felt his forehead. He was indeed burning up. I felt his cheek to make sure it was the same temperature only to have him lean into my touch. My heart skipped a beat, but I opened up my palm to caress his warm cheek.

Okay, what could I do to cool him down? I searched around the room for towels, then brought a wet one to his forehead and his neck even though I got my bandages wet.

"What happened to my son?"

I turned to see the Sheriff barreling into the room.

"It was an accident. There was an animal trap out in the woods. We got him here as soon as we could."

The Sheriff sighed. "Of course it happens when I'm out of town."

Everyone followed him inside.

He came to stand beside me, his hand squeezed my shoulder. "You okay?"

I looked up at him, knowing he knew before I did how I felt about his son. I nodded even though I wasn't okay.

He pointed the bandages on my hands. "What happened?"

"Lydia decided to break Stiles' leg free from the trap herself." Malia told him while she shot me a no-nonsense stare. She mimicked punching my boob.

I swallowed my laughter.

"I'm sure he'll be thrilled when he wakes up."

I rubbed circles into the rag on his forehead.

Hours passed and he still hadn't woken up. Most of everyone left to go back to the lobby. The Sheriff left to go find a doctor while Scott and I sat opposite each other. He met my eyes.

"Lydia," He started. "About the trap…what you did wasn't normal."

I leveled him with a look. "Is anything we ever do normal?"

He grinned. "Good point." He motioned to my hands. "Still. That took an incredible amount of strength." He looked to Stiles. "Do you love him?"

That was a stupid question.

"Of course."

He gave me a look. "You know what I mean."

I broke our gaze to look Stiles. Just the sight of him made my heart jump. A soft grin tugged on my lips as I nodded.

"Okay. Why don't you tell him? He deserves to know."

My shoulders shrugged. "I just can't, Scott. Can we leave it that?"

He surveyed me for a few seconds before he nodded. "So why are you with Parrish?"

"Scott." I pleaded. "I can't even think about that right now."

He looked at Stiles before he rose from the chair. "I'll give you some time alone." He patted my shoulder as he walked towards the door.

When it came time that visiting hours were over everyone came to check on Stiles, but he was still resting and burning up even as I rewetted his rags every thirty minutes.

"Alright, Lydia," The nurse that had checked on us a few times called. "It's time to go."

My head shook. "I'm not going to leave him here by himself."

She gave me a sad look. "Honey, it's family only at this point. One person can stay the night." She looked back at my group of friends.

"I am family." My hand grasped his.

She sighed. "Look, I'll have to talk to The Sheriff about it, but I'll see what I can do."

"She can stay," Jordan spoke.

I turned back to him with curious eyes.

He looked a bit resigned. "I'm his Deputy. He'll say yes."

The nurse, Jackie, nodded. "Even so. I could get in trouble for letting her stay."

Scott stepped forward. "My mom is Melissa McCall, a nurse here. She'll vouch for you."

Jackie stared at him a bit, then a smile took over her face. "Oh my God, Scott McCall. Look at you," She got that far away look in her eyes when people remembered something. "You were an awkward thing the last time I saw you." She laughed.

He grinned. "I knew I recognized you. Hi, Mrs. Jackie."

She nodded. "Alright. I got you covered, Lydia. I'll bring you a blanket and a pillow."

"Thanks." I offered an appreciative smile.

"As for the rest of you, skedaddle."

Jordan was the only one left standing in the room.

I pulled my hand from Stiles' and went to him. "Thank you." I pulled him into a hug.

He crushed me to him, his mouth by my ear. "Anything for you."

I'd never felt sorry for Jordan before, but in that moment I really did. I couldn't imagine how much it took for him to be okay with this, with his girlfriend staying the night at some other guy's hospital bed. But Stiles wasn't just some guy.

"We'll be back tomorrow." He promised.

I nodded. "Okay."

We parted with a chaste kiss, but it felt all wrong suddenly.

As soon as he disappeared, I turned back Stiles and went to rewet the towels. I wasn't sure how long I stayed up watching him, waiting for him to open his eyes. In all honesty, he probably needed the rest. When Jackie brought the blanket and pillow to me, I was tempted to get on the bed with Stiles, but thought better of it. Instead, I pulled together a few chairs from outside and laid across. That window bed was too far away.

The next day dragged on. At least it looked like his fever was going down, but he still hadn't woken up to my annoyance.

Malia and Hayden brought me a change of clothes and sat with me for a while. They said everyone else was busy with Deaton, but they would be here as soon as they could.

Malia squeezed my hand. "He'll come back to us, to you."

My face flushed. "Uh, thanks."

Hayden laughed.

When Scott got here he suggested I walk around the hospital a bit. I didn't want to leave Stiles' side, but I think clearing my head a bit would be nice. Plus, it would give me an opportunity to stretch my legs.

I came across the gift shop and flitted inside. It might be nice to have something pretty to look at when he woke up. There's nothing wrong with balloons. It wasn't like I was getting him a dozen red roses. With two or three balloons I felt satisfied, all reading a message synonymous to get well soon.

When I got back to the room Jackie was there to check his vitals. She smiled at me. "Morning,"

"Hi." I offered a weak grin. "How's he doing?"

She gestured to the towels still on his skin. "A lot better. I think you may have broken his fever better than the medicine."

Really? Just some rags?

"That's because Lydia's a badass." Liam grinned.

Everyone agreed.

I laughed as I waved them off as I tied the balloons to his bed table.

We were like that for a bit after Jackie left, we talked about Stiles' best save the day moments, laughter filled the room. By the time everyone had to go he still hadn't woken up yet. And I was beyond tired, so I fell asleep on the pushed together chairs like last night fairly quickly. I was grateful to Melissa for sneaking me some medicine for the pain in my hands, they kind of had a part in knocking me out.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed when I was knocked in the head with a pillow. My eyes squeezed as I groaned. "Five more minutes, mom."

"Lydia," A familiar voice called.

I looked up over at the bed to find Stiles sitting up with a grin on his face. "You're awake." I stated the obvious. I pretty much fell out of the chairs to get to him.

Relief washed over me as I embraced him. My right arm wrapped around his back while my other laced my fingers into his greasy hair. My mouth rested on his shoulder.

"Hey, I'm okay." He wrapped his safe arms around me.

Tears pricked my eyes as my head shook. "I wasn't sure if you were going to make it." When my heart calmed down I pulled away to look at him. "You kind of passed out from the pain and Liam had to run you here because there was a pile up."

"Great. I don't remember much."

He grabbed my hand. "You saved me." His honey eyes searched mine.

I winced. "No, Scott saved you. He came just in time."

He flipped my hand over in his. "Then what happened to your hands."

A blush instantly came to my face. Yeah, I didn't have an answer for that. There goes my plan to assign Scott the victory.

He looked at me with curious eyes. "You opened a bear trap to get my leg free, Lydia. Thank you." He pulled me close for another stupid kiss on the forehead.

Damn him and his forehead kisses.

He gestured to the chairs. "You sleep on those all night?"

I pointed to the chairs. "Oh, those? That's nothing." I let out an awkward laugh.

His eyes found the balloons. "They didn't have to get me balloons." He cracked a grin.

I shrugged. "I told them it was too much, but they insisted. How are you feeling?"

He nodded. "Better, a little groggy. So I might not remember this conversation tomorrow. Did the doctor say when I can go home?"

"They wanted to keep you a few more days, but your dad demanded you come home whenever you wanted."

He yawned, then patted the space beside him on the bed. "Get up here."

My eyes widened. "Uh, I don't think that's allowed." I let out a nervous laugh.

He grinned. "Just get up here. You'll help me sleep better."

My heart dipped as I mentally swooned. Nevertheless, I did as told, not wanting to disappoint Stiles' wishes.

It was a bit of a struggle at first, but we made it work. We were going to big spoon little spoon it, but that didn't work with his leg, then we were going to lay on our sides, but it just wasn't comfortable. Finally, he laid on his back and pulled me so that half of my bod my was laying on his side. He had no objections from me.

"You comfortable?" He asked.

"Yes."

Our body heat warmed us up fairly quickly. Maybe it was Stiles himself, he was such a loving and warm person.

I nestled my head on his chest while he wrapped his arm around me. His heart thumped under my ear, nothing had ever sounded more beautiful. I had to fight to keep a smile off my face. I laid my arm across his body. My eyes drifted shut.

"Love you." He muttered.

My heart fluttered. "I love you, too."


	3. Changes

Hey guys, I just wanted to share some info with yall about my personal life that I've incorporated in this fic. So the night I posted the first chapter one of my older cousins, Jackie, was on life support and we knew she wasn't going to be around much longer, so we up to the UVa to be with her for her last night. She ended up leaving us and I wanted to honor her a little by naming the nurse Jackie, which I also thought was cute because of the tv show Nurse Jackie (which I don't watch, but it's on my queue). Anyway, I plan to have Jackie be of more use to the group later on because I've already developed an emotional attachment to her. I'll give her more background info and an actual character description cuz I forgot to do that.

The song for this chapter is Charles Bradley - Changes

STILES' POV:

I'm woken up by the sound of voices. My eyes fluttered open a few times before I actually peeked them open. Five figures stood around my bed. I jumped out of fear, which in turn jarred the sleeping figure that laid on top of me. I looked down to see Lydia squeezing her eyes shut, they widened as she looked up at me, and then to our friends who stared at us with creepy grins.

"Morning sleepyheads." Scott smiled.

We groaned.

"So what happened last night?" Liam asked. "You guys do it or what?"

I shot him a look. "What the hell man?"

Malia, Hayden, and Corey laughed.

Scott gave him a disappointed look only a father could give.

"What?" Liam shrugged. "We were all thinking it."

I looked down at Lydia who was beet red.

"On a hospital bed?" I asked.

Malia pointed at Lydia and laughed harder. Lydia glared at her.

"Where's my dad?" I asked as I sat up. "I can't stay here any longer. The insurance won't cover it."

A sadness of reality washed across the room. I could practically feel Lydia's guilt emit from her.

"Besides, we need to catch that thing."

Mason nodded. "It hasn't attacked anyone else. What are the odds this isn't just a jaguar? I mean, you said Derek could shift into a wolf. What if this is a person and they need our help?"

"It tried to kill us. I don't think it's looking for help." I spoke.

Malia straightened her back. "So if Scott didn't convince you to rescue me you would've left me out there?"

Shit. Somehow I completely forgotten that Malia actually used to be a full-fledged coyote.

"Of course not."

"Okay then. We need to find it. I'll try to get a read on it if we can find it. That's our best bet."

Scott sent her a nod, then looked to me. "Your dad is talking to my mom. I think we can get you home soon."

"Did you like the balloons?" Corey asked with a shy grin.

My eyes went the four colorful gestures of love. "Yeah, I did. Thanks guys."

Hayden propped her arm on Liam's shoulder. "They weren't from us." She gave me a confused look. "Lydia bought them."

My eyes drifted her. Her flamed cheeks alone confirmed her guilt. Why did she lie to me?

"Did I not mention that?" She pursed her plumb lips. "It's still from all of us with love."

I didn't want to embarrass her further by asking why she lied, so I saved it for later.

A few moments my dad showed up at the door. "How you feeling kiddo? Ready to get-" He looked between Lydia and I, then cleared his throat. "You ready to go home?"

I sighed in relief. "Of course. Thank you."

Before I left my nurse, Jackie ushered everyone out to help me walk with the crutches across the room. My leg hurt to no end, but I was grateful that it was me that fell into that trap instead of Lydia. My foot was wrapped up pretty well. Jackie was pretty friendly, an older black woman with beautiful dreads down her back, and a smile that lit up her whole face.

Once she was sure that I could walk from one side of the room to the other without staggering too much she let me go.

"Now, I don't want to see you in here anytime soon, Mr. Stilinski. Making that poor girl sleep on those hard ass chairs. You must really be something."

I let out a chuckle. "We've been through a lot together." My mind went back to when it was me in those chairs and she had no idea that I was even here.

She checked my bandaging over. "How long have you two be together?"

I cleared my throat. "Oh, we're not dating. Just friends."

She gave me funny look. "If you say so. But I'm going to tell you like it is; not just anyone is going to stick by your side like she did. Especially if you didn't mean a lot to her." She made sure the crutches were secure.

I heard what she said, I really did, but this was Lydia. We were friends, best of friends. Yeah, I used to be in love with her and she used to hate me, but we were past that. There wasn't room for anything else, which was fine. I couldn't imagine not having Lydia as a friend and I know she felt the same way. We've just been through too much, any of us, to not care about each other tremendously. We were pack.

"Alrighty," She rose from her crouch. "You, Mr. Stilinski, are now a free man. Don't get too crazy now." She smiled.

I didn't know this woman from Eve, but she had an almost instantaneous calming effect on me.

"Thank you, Jackie."

She waved me off. "Oh child, you were easier to take care of than a doll baby."

I laughed at the weird compliment.

When I found my strength I made my way to the door.

"Have a nice day, sweetie."

"Thanks, you too." I grinned at her.

My dad pulled up with a wheelchair. "In you go."

My face scrunched up. "Come on, do I have to?"

"It's either that or hobble to the front which will take longer." Jackie added.

She had a point.

"Fine." I swallowed my pride and sat in the chair. The sooner I was out of this place the better.

As if rolling down the halls in this thing wasn't bad enough I had to see the look of remorse on Lydia's face. We'd have to talk about this later because I didn't want her blaming herself for this. Yeah, this would suck for a while and I probably wouldn't get a lacrosse scholarship now, but I didn't blame her. She probably saved my life from that jaguar.

"We'll meet you guys at the house." Liam told us.

"That's fine." My dad said.

A thought occurred to me. "Where's my car?"

"Jordan parked it out front. I'll drive it home." Lydia offered.

We followed them outside. The opportunity presented itself and I didn't think we'd have a moment alone for quite some time, so I took it.

Lydia started for my jeep.

"Dad, I'm going to ride with Lydia, if you don't mind." I looked to him.

He nodded. "Are you sure that's the best idea?" He whispered so only I could hear.

"Dad," I whined.

"Okay, just asking." He rolled me to the jeep with a chuckle.

Lydia had started the engine and was prepared to drive off until she saw us and jumped in the seat. She leaned over to the passenger side. "What are you two doing?" She spoke out the window.

My dad opened the door. "He wants to ride with you, apparently."

"Oh."

I handed my dad my crutches, he threw them in the back seat before he helped me stand.

"Easy." He coaxed me along to the door.

Lydia held out a hand to help me up. "Here."

I grasped on it and with the help of my dad and was in the seat in no time.

"See you kids in a few." He waved us off. "I have to run to the station for a bit, then I'll be home to take care of you, son." He patted the door as a sendoff.

She pulled off down the street. "Are you comfortable?"

I shrugged. "I've been worse."

Silence passed between us, her thumb beating on the wheel broke the silence.

"You don't have to feel guilty."

She glanced at me, then back at the road. "Why shouldn't I? I'm the one who pushed you into it."

"Yeah, but you didn't know it was there. It was an accident, so don't beat yourself up about it. I'm not."

She groaned. "Stiles, you can't play Lacrosse now because of me. You were counting on a scouts to pick you up. I've ruined that for you."

I guess now was the time to tell her what has been on my mind lately.

"Truth be told," I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I don't think I want to play in college, anyway. I haven't told anybody, but I've been thinking about a career in law enforcement."

She looked more than a little shocked. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why didn't you tell me about the balloons?" I challenged.

We stopped at a red light.

"I just thought it would sound better if they were from the group." She shook her head. "I don't know, I thought you'd think I was weird or something."

Despite the situation, I laughed. "Lydia, when have I ever thought you were weird?"

She cracked a grin. "I guess, you're right." She looked at my leg. "So you're really not mad about your leg?"

My head shook.

"Well," She smiled. "I think law enforcement is a noble profession, Officer Stilinski. Or Agent. Detective." Her eyes softened. "Sheriff."

"You want to be the Scully to my Mulder?"

Her brow rose. "Cheeky, are we?"

I laughed. "You know what I mean. I just don't picture you at a law firm, Lyds. That's not you."

She shrugged. "Maybe you're right. I don't know, but what I do know is that we make a pretty impressive team."

A grin played on my lips. "Yeah, we do."

She held my gaze for longer than normal.

The light turned green.

I cleared my throat, determined not to go back there with my feelings again.

She pulled off only to have something run in front of the jeep. Her hand flashed out to my chest as if the gesture would magically stop me from flying through the windshield if I didn't have my seatbelt on. Her eyes surveyed me.

"You okay?" I asked.

She nodded.

A growling came from nearby, we looked to see the jaguar a few feet in front of the jeep. There was no one around to see it but us.

"How did it find us?" She asked. "What does it want?"

My head shook. "I don't know." Fear evident in my voice.

It bared its sharp teeth at us, then all of a sudden it's growl turned to a howl as it shifted from a jaguar into a wolf. It whined loudly and painfully before it ran into the woods.

"What the holy hell was that?" She asked me with curious green eyes.

A sense of dread filled me. I turned to her. "Lydia, drive."

She floored it to my house.

We retold everything we saw to the group. They all seemed as shocked as we were.

"Not many werewolves have the ability to transform into the wolf, right?" Liam asked.

Scott nodded.

I couldn't help but think of one person we knew that could.

"Derek can." I muttered.

They all looked to me.

"Derek couldn't do this." Malia protested.

"Well, you only knew him for like a week." Lydia threw at her.

Malia looked a little taken aback, but mostly hurt at the snappy tone in Lydia's voice.

Lydia flushed. "Sorry, I just mean that we know him a lot better and it's not like Derek hasn't been a self-serving psychopath before. He turned Erica and Boyd because they were expendable to him. And they were. Yeah, he's changed for the better, but we don't really know what he's been up to all this time he's been gone."

Braeden stepped forward, a reserved look on her face. "I do."

We all looked to her.

Malia looked more surprised than any of us. I wasn't sure if there was something going on with those two or not. Even if there wasn't, I was still grateful that Malia had someone who could help her out with some of the personal issues she didn't want to share with us.

"Well?" I asked because she took her sweet time for dramatic affect.

She huffed. "The real reason I came back was because he ditched me in Monterrey. I tried tracking him and came close a few times, but he doesn't want to be found."

"Did something happen?" Scott asked.

Her eyes shifted to the floor. "There was a group of hunters that wanted him dead. I didn't catch their name, but they were shoot first ask questions later kind of hunters. I'm lucky they believed I was a hunter, too. It bought me enough time to sneak out."

Scott huffed, then turned to me. "So what do we do? Go after him? He's in trouble."

"Not to be pessimistic here, but how are we going to turn him back? If he's been on the run this long as a wolf and a jaguar how are we going to reach him?" I asked.

"Malia can." Lydia spoke.

We all looked to her. Malia's eyes widened.

"Are you serious?" She asked Lydia.

Lydia nodded. "You're the only one of us that knows what it's like to be stuck in that animalistic form for so long. You're the only one that knows what it takes to pull him back. Besides, you're family."

Scott turned to Malia. "I can't ask you to do that."

Malia shook her head. "You don't have to. I'll do it." Her eyes went to Lydia. "She's right. I may be the best chance we have at turning him back. He's the only biological family I have left."

My lips pursed. "That's not true. You have Cora. She's pretty cool."

Lydia shot me a look. "You still keep in contact with her?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, a little. She's actually thinking about coming back. She never mentioned that Derek was missing though."

"That's because she didn't know." Braeden said. "They had a huge fight a while back and haven't spoken since."

The door opened and in walked Hayden, Mason, and Corey with bags of groceries.

They gave sheepish grins.

"What's with all the serious brows around here?" Corey asked.

Hayden locked her gaze on Liam. "What happened?"

He went to her. "The jaguar resurfaced. Only it's not just a jaguar, but a wolf, too."

The confusion was absent on their faces.

"Oh. Welcome to the club of teens that have been more than one supernatural being."

Malia laughed. "Oh, I get it."

"So what's the plan?" Mason asked. "Are we going after it?"

"That's still up for debate," Braeden answered. "We're not even a hundred percent sure it's Derek, let alone a human. What if it's just survival of the fittest gone wrong? Or Stiles and Lydia are delusional."

"Hey," We whined in unison.

Scott shook his head with a small grin. "We don't know, but sitting here and talking about it gets us nowhere. If that really is Derek and these hunters track him here then they'll be our problem, too. I don't want to lose anymore of you."

A sadness washed over Scott, Lydia, and I that no one else really understood. They didn't know Allison, Aiden, Boyd, Erica, and Isaac. The only person outside of us that knew them a little was Malia, and that wasn't very much.

Corey grabbed the bags from Hayden while him and Mason went to put the groceries away.

Lydia's phone chimed in her purse. "Hey, you need to get here as soon as possible…I know you can't just leave whenever you want, but this is important." Her eyes rolled. "Fine, stay there. We'll manage without you." She hung up.

"Parrish?" Scott asked.

She nodded. "He sends his love. They are pretty backed up at the station right now."

"Yeah, there has been an increase in robberies recently." I agreed.

"Okay, so when are we doing this?" Malia asked.

MALIA'S POV:

We spent most of the day coming up with a plan. One that involved us chasing the jaguar/wolf around the woods like they did me. Only difference was that we didn't have a tranq dart this time, so how they hell was I going to subdue it? Argent was out of town at the moment, so we relied on Deaton for something we weren't even sure would work because the DNA was different for both animals. One might be more immune to it than the other and we didn't know what caused the shift between animals.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Braeden asked for the millionth time.

I walked ahead, my eyes peeled on the darkness. "Family is family, no matter the price."

She caught up. "Yeah, but you're risking a lot for a person you hardly know. What if the hunters are already in town?"

I looked back at her. "Why are you so hesitant to help Derek? What happened between you guys?" I asked from a place of genuine curiosity.

Her brown eyes searched mine before she huffed. "He left me, alright. Even before the hunters caught up to us. I found him and he didn't want to be found." Sadness washed over.

"Did you love him?" I blurted out.

She shrugged. "I don't know. The longer I go on the hazier the concept of love gets." She stared at me.

I felt my face get a little hot and wasn't sure why.

She grinned. "So if we find Derek and turn him human again, he's just going to take off anyway." Her grin fell. "So I'm asking you again, do you want to do this?"

My head nodded. "If Scott and the group hadn't helped me I'd still be out here. I have to try."

She looked around us, her gun ready for any sign of danger. "Fine by me."

We started forward. The others were surrounding the borders. Save for Mason, he's watching over Stiles. Lydia wanted to stay behind, but he told her to go on because she was important to our whole operation. Those two were something else. We sort of had a bet going amongst ourselves to see how long they would last before caving in to their feelings. I put down thirty on six months just because Stiles and I had broken up three months ago and I didn't think he was looking to get involved right away. Plus Lydia had Parrish, but that wasn't going to last. When we got to hospital this morning and saw them holding each other in his hospital bed it was all Liam could do to not ask for his fifty on three and a half months. If I was being honest, I was jealous of their relationship. Not because I wanted Stiles for myself, but because I wanted that friendship with someone.

My eyes went to Braeden. We hadn't known each other long, but we made a pretty good team. She helped me with the desert wolf aka mama bitch. I trusted her with my life and I think she trusted me with hers.

A growl came from the distance and out ran the jaguar.

I chased after it.

"Malia, be careful!" Braeden warned.

I jumped out and tackled it to the ground. It scratched and growled at me, but I held onto it as best I could.

"Now, Braeden!"

She shot the dart into it, but it only angered it. If Stiles and Lydia hadn't told us I wouldn't believe it with my own eyes as it shifted into a black coated wolf. Like Derek, but these eyes were yellow, not blue.

It bared its teeth at me and I growled right back. It backed a few feet away and circled us. I did the same, showing I wasn't afraid of it.

"I don't think that's Derek." Braeden raised her gun. "The eyes are different."

I noticed that, too. If it wasn't Derek, then I didn't have as much a connection to this animal as I thought I did.

"Then who the hell is it?"

It snapped its teeth at me.

"I can help you change back." I tried to level with it. "I know it hurts, but it doesn't have to be like this."

It looked ready to pounce.

"We can help you!" I pleaded.

It lunged for me and I tackled it to the ground with a loud growl.

"Trust me. Please!"

It howled but its eyes flickered from yellow wolf eyes to blue human eyes. For a second I thought I had it, but its eyes changed back to yellow and it kicked me back. Braeden helped me up. The wolf turned from us.

With one last attempt, I digged deep and remembered what it was like to be that animal. All those years of pain, of loneliness, of distrust came out into my growl.

It stopped in its tracks and looked back at me with blue eyes. A few seconds passed before it wasn't a wolf or a jaguar, but a human boy. Tall and muscular with a mop of light brown curls. I recognized him instantly from my transformation back to human. The last I knew of him he left town.

"Isaac?"

He met my eyes, clearly confused of his surroundings. Then he jumped to his feet with panic in his blue eyes. "No, it's a trap! You have to leave, all of you!" His eyes widened. "Leave her alone!"

I looked at him with confused eyes until something sharp stabbed me through the back, pain shot through me. My eyes went to the sword that stuck out from my stomach as blood formed in my throat. I looked to Braeden with wide eyes as the sword left my body and I fell to the floor.

"I'll kill you!" Isaac threatened whoever was behind me, my guess it was the hunters.

Braeden went after whoever it was, but the knocked her out cold.

Four figures with weapons for days walked over us and snatched up Isaac.

"Please, don't do this!" He begged. "Please! Somebody help me!" They knocked him out with the back of a gun.

I tried to go after them, but I couldn't move much. My hand clutched my bloody stomach as I scooted closer to Braeden to make sure she was okay.

"Scott," I called out, my voice weak. Tears filled my eyes. "Scott."

Don't be afraid to leave it a little comment, thanks for reading :)


	4. Big Eyes

The song for this chapter is Matt Corby – Big Eyes….mostly because that's how I imagine Lydia looking at Stiles in this, plus his music is some of the best acoustic soul I've heard. I love using songs from Matt Corby, Rhodes, and Matt Mayfield because they inspire me to write love stories lol

STILES' POV:

It had been twenty minutes since the group left to go save Derek. My dad was in his home office working on paper work, so it was just Mason and I. Sitting in silence.

"So," He spoke. "You want to order food or something?"

I looked to him. "Not a bad idea out of you yet." I reached for my phone that sat beside me on the couch. "Pizza?"

"Of course. Pepperoni and bacon?"

I grinned. "Of course. I'll tact on some bread sticks. What the hell, right?"

After I ordered our food, I scrambled for something to talk about. Mason was cool, he reminded me of me in a lot of ways. He was always there for Liam like I was with Scott. The two of us the humans of the pack, but we were quick as tact's. Both of us were taken over by evil spirits. Only difference was that he sort of had somebody romantically, granted him and Corey weren't together just yet, but they were going to get together eventually. I was all by my lonesome.

My thoughts went to Malia. I hoped she could do this. No, I knew she could do this. If anything happened…they would call us.

"She's going to be okay." Mason said. "She can handle herself just fine. She whopped it's ass the first time, right."

I looked to him. "Lydia?"

He nodded. "Yeah, who else?"

Now that he mentioned it, I was worried about the strawberry blonde. Sure, I was close to Kira and Malia, and maybe even Braeden, but it was different with Lydia. She was my best friend. Scott was my brother.

A curse came from me.

"What?" He asked.

I gave a disappointed head shake. "She missed her interview yesterday."

He gave me a look. "Did you expect her to be anywhere else? You were out for a whole day, dude. She was glued to your side the whole time. Scott had to kick her out to go for a walk or whatever, and she brings back balloons." He chuckled. "It's pretty cut and dry to me."

My forehead creased. "What do you mean?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. It's not my business, man."

What did that mean?

"Mason, come on. What are you talking about?"

He shrugged. "It just seems pretty obvious that there's something going on there, you know."

My head shook. "No, I don't know. Spell it out for me."

A huff left him, his hand smacked my shoulder. "Dude, Lydia likes you."

That was so ludicrous that I started to laugh. "Come again?"

"You must be stupid not to see that." He deadpanned.

"This is Lydia Martin. She's like a hundred times out of my league. She's my best friend."

He held his hand in the air as he gestured to me. "And that may be true, but she's also a hundred times into you. Like really into you. It's completely obvious and you're a dumbass."

"Uh, thanks." I said sarcastically.

I waved it off. This wasn't even worth entertaining. Lydia and I weren't ever going past the friendzone. I was firmly planted in it, which I was fine with. We were cozy. That didn't mean we liked each other romantically.

"You're obviously in denial. I'll let you come to your own conclusion when they get back."

Once the food got here we dug in and popped on Netflix. My dad left shortly after, saying something about an emergency at the station. Mason suggested a sci fi show called The 100. We got through one full episode before someone busted through my door. We looked back to see Scott with Malia in his arms. A worried look everyone carried as they rushed in behind him.

"What happened?" Mason ran into the kitchen where Scott sat her on the table.

I counted the heads, everyone was here except for Lydia.

With the help of my crutches, I stood. "Where's Lydia?"

She stumbled through the door with blood on her hands and face, she helped Braeden sit.

"Lydia,"

She rushed into the kitchen and came back with a frozen pack of peas.

Braeden took it. "Thanks."

"Lydia?" I called again.

She looked at hands and wiped them on her clothes, but that wasn't good enough, so she ran to the downstairs bathroom.

I peeped into the kitchen.

"What happened? Where's Derek?"

"The hunters were there. They stabbed her." Scott said, his eyes on Malia the whole time. "She's already starting to heal." He grabbed her hand and winced. He took her pain.

Liam looked at me. "We didn't get Derek. Go check on Lydia, she's pretty freaked out, she was the one that found her first. She could probably use you right now."

I nodded.

Mason gave me a smirk.

I hobbled to the bathroom without my crutches to find Lydia with her hands under the facet. She scrubbed her hands furiously. I could see a stream of tears on her cheeks in the reflection of the mirror.

"Hey, you okay?" I closed the door behind me for some privacy.

She started to nod, then shook her head. "No. No, I'm not okay." Her voice broke. "I saw it happen, Stiles." She applied more hand soap and began scrubbing. "If Malia wasn't a werecoyote and she died…I'm sick of my friends getting hurt because of me. _I_ told her to go out there."

"This wasn't your fault, Lydia. You couldn't have known that was going to happen."

She stilled. Her hands rested on the edge of the sink. "I knew it was going to happen to Allison."

Understanding washed over me. I blew out a breath. I turned her around so she could look at me, but she wouldn't even do that. My hand held her cheek, my eyes caught hers.

"You are not to blame, Lydia Martin. Do you hear me? None of this is your fault. Things just happen, okay. What happened to Malia was an accident. What happened to me was an accident. What happened to Allison was tragic, but it still wasn't your fault. Alright?" My eyes pleaded with hers.

She finally nodded.

I wiped her tears away. "Good, now I can chew you out because you missed your interview yesterday for the internship this summer."

Her brow furrowed, but straightened out as she remembered. She shrugged. "Something more important came up."

"That interview was pretty important."

Her eyes searched mine. "Not as important as you."

I felt my heart miss a beat.

"Besides," She gave a small grin. "I don't think law firms are for me anyway."

A smile found my lips. "Well, I could've told you that."

She laughed, her eyes soft. "Thank you."

"For being a friend? That's a given."

Her hand grabbed mine. "For being you. You help me more than you realize. I don't really know where I would be without you, Stiles." A little pink tinted her cheeks. She gave a grateful grin.

Was she blushing?

I really didn't know what to say.

Then she surprised me when she brought her lips to my cheek and lingered for a few seconds, long enough for me to feel in my heart. Long enough for me to wish her lips were a few inches closer to mine.

She pulled away, her eyes on mine. She looked a bit shocked herself, like she hadn't meant to do it. "We should go check on Malia. We have news for the group."

I nodded, then followed her out to the others.

Malia was still out cold, but everyone was a bit more relaxed. Except for Scott. He seemed prepared for anything bad to happen.

Braeden came to the kitchen the same time as us. "Maybe we should get Deaton or your mom?"

"I already called him. He's out of town tonight." Scott muttered, his hand still on Malia's.

Lydia and I shared a look, but we both shook the thought out of our heads.

Lydia pulled out a chair and pushed me into it with a stern look. I obeyed without protest.

"There's something else." She looked up at the others. "It wasn't Derek the hunters were after." She looked at Scott. "It was Isaac."

Scott whipped his head up to look at her. "What?"

"They have Isaac, Scott."

"We'll get him," Braeden promised with a sad look in her eyes as she scanned Malia. "Derek would've wanted us to."

Liam cleared his eyes. "Who's Isaac?" He looked at Scott.

"Derek's beta, but he ended up being part of our pack." Scott answered. "He left after Allison died, they were sort of together." He swallowed the lump in his throat.

My hand grabbed Lydia's and squeezed. "You left out that he was basically your first beta. They were very close." I teased Liam.

He made a stank face and turned to Hayden.

She caressed his face. "No one can replace you."

I chuckled along with Mason and Corey.

Lydia pulled her hand away to smack my chest. "Don't tease him like that."

"Come on, Lyds. You know their bromance was strong. Not as strong as ours." I winked at Scott, but he still watched Malia. "No, okay." I muttered to myself.

"We'll get him." Scott said. "I'll call Argent, see if he's heard of them. We can't just run in blind, we don't even know where to look for him."

Mason looked at Liam. "You can get his scent, right?"

Liam shook his head. "My sense of smell has been a little off lately." He shrugged. "He can wait a few days."

"Not if they're going to kill him." Scott pulled away from Malia. "We have to look for him."

"Malia was just stabbed. Do you really think right now is the best time for you to be doing anything?" I questioned.

He looked at me with a furrowed brow. "It's Isaac." He looked at Lydia. "He helped rescue you from the Nogitsune." He looked at me. "He helped us save Malia. He was one of us. We can't just let him die."

Braeden nodded. "He tried to warn us, guys. He said it was a trap, which means they know we'll go after him. We have to be smart about this or we're going to lose people."

Scott nodded. "I got it."

"We have to think about the whole group." She reiterated.

"I said I got it." His voice rose.

We all looked at him a little concerned. Scott rarely got mad.

He sighed, then walked out of the room and outside.

"He misses Kira." Corey said.

Lydia and I looked at each other. We weren't sure it was that simple.

"We all miss Kira." Hayden added.

Braeden headed outside.

My hand rested on Lydia's back.

She turned to me.

"Can you heat me up some pizza?" I grinned. "Please."

"How many do you want?" She grinned cheekily.

I groaned. "Talk dirty to me." I held up three fingers.

She shook her head with a grin before getting me food.

Liam turned to Hayden. "I'm hungry."

She made a 'bitch please' face. "You have feet."

Mason and Corey laughed.

"Apparently, it only works with budding love." Corey joked.

My eyes went to Lydia, she stilled in her motions, then proceeded to put my pizza in the microwave.

"It's not like that, right Lyds?" I asked.

She turned to us. "Right."

For the rest of the night she wouldn't look anyone in the eyes, especially not me.

LYDIA'S POV:

Having to lie about my feelings for Stiles in front of everyone was harder than I thought it would be. He could've asked me with lesser eyes on us. Granted, I still would've lied, but my heartbeat wouldn't have given me away to everyone except Stiles. Bless the boy. I had put him through the ringer and he stuck by my side when I didn't deserve it. It wasn't his fault that he didn't notice how I felt about him because I had turned him down time and time again.

So when they cared on conversation I just sat there. When asked I blamed my lack of attention on being mad at Jordan for not being here, which I wasn't. But it was time to let him go. What I was doing to him wasn't right, I knew that. I just didn't want to feel this way about Stiles when he so obviously didn't feel the same way and be single at the same time. Jordan wasn't a distraction; he was an attempt to shake these feelings.

A hand grabbed mine. I looked up to see Malia sitting up. My heart jumped to life. "Oh my God," I crushed her to me. "Don't ever do that to me again."

She hugged me back. "I'll try." She chuckled.

Hayden attacked us, followed by Liam, Corey, and Mason. We were just a big hug sandwich.

"Guys, I'm fine." Malia promised.

"We were worried." Hayden said.

Mason chuckled. "Yeah, Liam's crying." He teased.

We pulled apart to see Liam's teary eyes.

He turned away, his hands whipped at his face. "Fuck you. Hayden elbowed me in the cornea."

Hayden rolled her eyes.

Malia looked at Stiles. "Hey."

He gave her a soft smile. "Hey,"

We all looked between them. It was the first time in a long time that I felt a spark of Jealousy. For what it's worth, I didn't think either of them had residual feelings, but they were each other's firsts. She was Stiles' first. That was a bond I'd never know.

My hand squeezed hers. "I'm glad you're okay. I don't think I could take losing another friend."

She grinned. "Well, I'm not going anywhere. Not until we find Isaac."

"Scott and Braeden want to wait." Corey added with his finger pressed to his mouth and a faraway look in his eyes. "They're outside."

She hopped off the table and stumbled a bit, but I grabbed her shoulder.

"Take it easy, Malia."

She waved me off. "I'm fine." She headed outside.

I looked in Stiles' general direction without meeting his eyes. "I think I left my sweater in your room. Can I run up and get it?"

"Of course. I think it's in my closet."

I walked up the stairs slowly. I really needed some time away from the group. My feet took me to his room, which was its usual half messy self. To me it was cozy with all the plaid and the homey feel that is Stiles. For a few minutes, I rifled through his closet until I found my mauve sweater. There was a shopping bag from Macy's on the shelf, I couldn't help but peek. Inside there was a black dress and a blank photo album. Was this for me? My birthday was in two weeks. A second later, guilt filled me and I shoved it back.

This room was much more comfortable than any place I'd ever been. It was the only place I really ever wanted to be lately. Instead of rejoining the others I sank down on the bed for a few minutes, then I slowly walked around the room. I checked out the bookcase by his desk, there were a few books about different branches of law enforcement. He would be good at this. I knew it.

My eyes found two photos I hadn't noticed before. One from before Allison died of Stiles and I. The other after Allison died of Stiles and I. I remembered the after from a few weeks ago because I fixated on how his olive green shirt made his honey eyes pop. He looked so cute that day. Well, he looked so cute always. For me, it was easy to see the shift between just friends and more in my eyes. For Stiles, he had the same look of pure friendship.

Frustrated, I let out a huff. When did it all get so complicated?

"Scott gave me those."

My heart jumped in my chest at the sound of his voice.

He stood in the doorway with a thin sheen of sweat on his skin. I didn't even hear him come up the steps. He placed his crutches by the door, but remained where he stood.

"They're nice." I felt my face turn red.

His eyes searched my face. He saw everything so I turned away.

I tucked my hair behind my ear. "How's your leg?"

"It's fine. They gave me pain meds for it."

For a long time, I hated that I was a Banshee because this was all so hard. Now I was used to it for the most part. In that moment, I wished I was more so I could take his pain away like Scott could.

"You were so quite earlier, I thought maybe…"

I met his eyes. "Thought what?"

He shook his head. "I was just worried."

My shoulders shrugged. "I was thinking about Jordan. I don't know what to do."

"Are you really mad at him for not coming? He has an important job, he can't just l-"

"I'm not mad about that." My eyes went to the floor as I bit my lip nervously. "He's a good man. He treats me right, he's sweet. Understanding."

"Understanding about what?"

I caught his gaze. "About us. He likes you just fine, he's tried really hard to understand our friendship. He's given me more slack than I probably deserve."

He nodded, his forehead creased. "Does he think there's something going on between us? Did you tell him there wasn't?"

I knew how Stiles felt about me, I wasn't in denial that he didn't like me. Just hearing him say it with my own ears was heartbreaking. I turned away so he wouldn't see my eyes prickle with tears.

"Yeah, I told him. But that's not what this is about. He doesn't deserve what I'm doing to him. Using him like I used Aiden. Look where that god him. Dead." I huffed. "I'm not trying to host a pity here; I'm trying to figure out what's best for me."

But I knew what was best for me. Stiles.

"You'll figure it out." He came to sit on his desk, his whiskey eyes on me. "Besides, if nothing else pans out I'll take you to Prom."

I made a face. "Gee, thanks. I wouldn't want to stand in the way of the hordes of girls waiting for you to ask them."

He chuckled. "Hey, don't be cruel."

A grin played on my lips. "I'm not being cruel. You're just oblivious to anyone liking you. I literally see lots of girls looking at you all the time."

He nodded as if to play along. "So why haven't these hordes of girls asked me out?"

"They're probably too scared. I would be, too."

The weight of what I said hit me as he looked at me with a hint of a grin.

"I mean, if I didn't know you, you know."

He laughed and continued to stare, probably wanting to see how far I could fit my foot in my mouth. It could go pretty far, let me tell you.

"You are kind of intimidating. Whether you believe it or not, you're popular."

"We are talking about me, right?" He asked with the cutest confused look.

I nodded. "You're a Senior. You're on the Lacrosse team. You're friends with me." I joked even though I was still popular after my fall from grace. "You're a really nice guy, in shape. You're good looking. And you're not a slut like half of the male population. Sounds kind of perfect to me." I insisted.

He looked at me with careful eyes that made me nervous.

I really couldn't be under his gaze any longer or I'd combust.

"Uh," I cleared my throat. "I have to go." I started for the door.

His hand grabbed mine before I could get too far. He rubbed his thumb along the back of my hand.

My breath caught in my throat. I hesitantly met his eyes. They burned into mine until they searched my face. I couldn't stop my eyes from drifting to his mouth. When I looked back up he looked a bit shocked.

"Goodnight." He muttered.

Now I was pretty sure he could tell.

"Goodnight." I muttered back, then I turned to leave with my heart in my throat.

Thanks for reading yall! Happy St. Patty's Day!


	5. Mystery Eyes

Hey yall! I wanted to have this up sooner but I haven't had time and my granny's in the hospital now…its been one hell of a week for me. Anyways, thanks for reading and commenting. I'll find the mistakes in this later. Have a nice night

The song for this chapter is DLZ – Mystery Eyes

SCOTT'S POV:

The chill of the night ran through Braeden and I as we sat on Stiles' porch.

"How long do you think you can keep us together? The pack, I mean."

I turned to her. "I'm not sure." I sighed. "We can't all stay together after we graduate. Lydia's going to some law school probably. Stiles doesn't really know what he wants. I'm probably going to stick around here, go to the community college. They have a good nursing program. I'm not really sure about Malia either."

She nodded. "You want to keep an eye on the kiddies, huh?"

Well, yeah.

"I don't want Liam to have to handle all this on his own."

"He won't be on his own. He has Deaton, the kiddies, Deucalion, Argent, me." She gave a grin. "And your mom."

She was right. Still, I didn't feel comfortable leaving them.

"It's okay to be scared to let go, Scott. Even though you're the Alpha, we aren't your responsibility."

My head shook. "It doesn't work that way, Braeden. We're all connected. I can feel when you guys are hurt. I didn't realize it until Stiles was stuck in the trap. I didn't know what to make of it until Lydia called me."

She had a thoughtful look in her eyes. "Is that why you were so worried about Malia?"

When I saw Lydia trying to stop the bleeding I knew it was bad. The feeling was only a spike of pain in my stomach, with Stiles it was my leg.

"I flashed back to Allison's death." I swallowed the lump in my throat. "There was nothing I could do about that, she wasn't in pain. She was dying." I broke our gaze to stare out into the woods. "With Malia, I could do something."

She blew out a breath. "Are you sure that's it?"

I snapped around to look at her. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "It just looked like a little more than that."

"Did it?" I questioned. "I mean, did it look like I…" I breathed out.

That wasn't the case. We have friends.

"I have Kira."

She pursed her lips. "Do you though?"

Another huff left me.

No, I didn't really have Kira, nor did I know when she was coming back. Two months without a word. I missed her and I understood why she was with the Skinwalkers, but I was still angry at her for not being here. None of this was fair. It shouldn't have to be this hard to love someone and be together. How much longer could we keep doing this?

"Besides, you two-" I started, but was interrupted by the door opening.

Mala stumbled out.

I shot up and caught her. "Woah, easy."

"I'm fine." She assured, her hand on my shoulder.

"You sure?" Braeden asked beside us.

We sat down.

"I'll go get you some water." Braeden insisted.

Malia's hand squeezed mine. "I'm okay. You don't have to worry so much." She patted my hand, then pulled away.

"Doesn't mean I'll stop."

She looked at me with soft eyes. "Yeah, I know how that feels." She sighed. "When I woke up and saw Stiles sitting there with his leg like that all I could think was I'm glad he wasn't there."

I nodded. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Will you do something for me?"

"Anything."

"Can you help me plan my future?"

I grinned because it was out of the blue. "Right now?"

She grinned back. "No, not right now." She looked ahead. "It's just almost dying puts your life in perspective. I have no ide3a what I'm going to do after graduation. You guys are all leaving. I'm going to stick around here and be a loser."

My shoulder nudged hers. "I'm sticking around here, too. We can be losers together."

She looked back at me with a smile and a laugh. "Okay, sounds like a plan."

Relief washed over me and I wasn't sure why.

"Have you heard any from Kira?"

My head shook. "Not a word."

Her shoulder bumped mine. "I'm sure she's fighting as hard as she can to get back to you."

Braeden stepped onto the porch forth a glass of water, then she handed it to Malia.

"Thanks."

She nodded, then sat beside Malia and rubbed her back.

I cleared my throat as I stood.

"I'll call Argent, but I think we better all get some rest." I squeezed her shoulder. "I'm to check on Stiles, then I'll take you home."

I didn't think she'd want to ride on the back of Braeden's motorcycle or mine, but I wasn't going to let her drive herself home.

She nodded. "Thanks."

I gave her a parting look.

I found Stiles trying to get up the stairs. "Why didn't you ask for help?"

He groaned. "I didn't think I needed any."

"Do you want to sleep on the couch? I can bring down your stuff."

He shook his head. "No, Lydia's up there. I was going to make sure she's okay."

"Do you want me to help you up there?"

"That's alright." He gave a small grin. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?"

I nodded. "Alright. We're going to head out soon."

"You talk to Argent yet?"

"I texted him, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet."

He looked to the floor. "Okay. Just make sure Lydia's safe when you guys go after Isaac."

I patted his back. "She's not leaving your side, bro. And you don't want her to." I whispered.

He blushed. "You know, it's not like that anymore."

My brow lifted. "Isn't it?"

He looked up at the stairs for a few second before he turned back to me. "If it's that obvious then how come I didn't know?" He whispered.

I shrugged. "Maybe you weren't ready to see it, but it's there. Just watch how she is around you, it's pretty cute." I grinned.

His eyes rolled. "I'll believe it when I see it."

I gestured for him to go up the stairs. "Go find out."

STILES' POV:

That's what I did. Despite everything I thought I knew about our friendship, I didn't see this happening.

"He's a good man," She said as she looked at the floor. "He treats me right, he's sweet. Understanding."

"Understanding about what?"

She looked up at me with something deep in her eyes. "About us. He likes you just fine, he's tried really hard to understand our friendship. He's given me more slack that I probably deserve."

I nodded and took that in. When I asked her if she talked to Parrish about us not being anything more than friends she looked away. Still, that didn't mean she was into me. Still, she was pretty torn up about whether or not she should dump him, but I didn't want to offer any advice about that, so I just told her I'd take her to Prom. She practically laughed in my face, then came up with a ridiculous exaggeration that I was a wanted man at school.

"They're probably too scared. I would be, too." She froze after she realized what she said.

It took all of my strength not to grin like a fool, so I settled for a smirk.

"I mean, if I didn't you, you know."

I laughed at her embarrassment. Was this something I've repeatedly missed over the course of who knows how long?

"You are kind of intimidating. Whether you believe it or not, you're popular."

Disbelief filled me. "We are talking about me, right?"

She nodded. "You're a Senior. You're on the Lacrosse team. You're friends with me," She joked. "You're a really nice guy, in shape." Her eyes scanned my body quickly, but I still saw. "You're good looking. And you're not a slut like half of the male population." Honesty shown in her hazel eyes. "Sounds kind of perfect to me."

What I was afraid of was taking this all out of context, but it was hard not to see what everyone had been hinting at and telling me. Lydia liked me and why hadn't I seen it before now?

"Uh," She cleared her throat and looked away from me. "I have to go." She said breathlessly as she headed for my door.

My hand grabbed hers, not wanting her to leave. I moved my thumb across the soft skin of her hand. Well, everything she had was soft.

Her breath caught as she turned to face with what I used to think was an irritated gaze, but now I knew she was scared. Scared of what? Me?

My eyes scanned her face for any sign, only to find her staring at my mouth with a look of desire. Was she really attracted to me? That was my sign.

She looked at me with knowing eyes, like she knew I made the connection.

I supposed I wanted to tell her something meaningful, but all that came out was, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." She turned and walked away as fast as possible.

LYDIA'S POV:

The next morning, I woke up early with a headache. Probably from all the stress of the last few days.

Scott's name popped up on my phone.

"Morning," I answered. "What's up?"

I parked my car on the street, then walked up the drive to Stile's house with a bag of food and a coffee in my hand.

"I'm getting everyone together. Argent contacted me, he should be here within the hour.

Relief washed over me.

"That's great. Did he know of the hunters?"

"No, but Deaton's looking into it for us. I'll reach out to Deucalion, if there's a threat like this he'd know about it."

I nodded, still not truly sure if we could trust him.

"We can trust him," Scott insisted.

My eyes rolled. "Sure," I unlocked the door with the duplicate key we all had to each other's houses. I sipped the coffee in my other hand, but it burned my tongue.

"What's your issue with him, Lyds? He's a good guy now. He helped us with Theo."

I locked the door behind me. "Well, that could've been a trick. He tried to have you kill all of us for power. How do you know he's not rebuilding his Alpha pack?"

He huffed. "Because he's had a chance to kill us and he hasn't. Besides, how do you know Stiles doesn't still have some Void in him? How do you know he hasn't been the trickster all this time and is still feeding off of us?" When I didn't answer he went, "Uh-yeah!"

I chuckled. "Point taken. Well, I'm at Stiles'. I'm going to make him breakfast. What time are you guys getting here?"

"Probably another hour. You know how Liam hates getting up early. Mason said he wanted to talk to me, anyway, so I'll chat with him for a bit. Gives you enough time to romance Stiles." He teased.

"What?"

He chuckled then hung up.

My eyes narrowed as I walked towards the kitchen. I laid the bag down on the table and started on the bacon first, then on the pancakes. I popped some cinnamon rolls in the oven after I started on the eggs. There was already a pot of coffee brewed from when the Sheriff went to work, so I just turned the pot back on to heat it up. I danced my way around the kitchen while listening to music, some songs Stiles sent me a while ago. I bent down to pull the cinnamon rolls out of the oven.

"What on Earth are you doing?"

I jumped out of my skin as I turned to see Stiles with a huge grin on his face. Some of the cinnamon rolls had turned on their side from my jump.

"Making you breakfast." I said with a sheepish grin. "Unless you don't want my cooking?" I teased.

He stepped closer with a limp. "I'll never refuse food."

I grinned. "I thought so." I placed the bacon and eggs on a plate. "You want some coffee?"

He came behind me and wrapped his arms around me, his mouth in the crook of my neck. "Thanks, Lyds."

Butterflies harlem-shaked in my stomach. My heart accelerated by a million. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of being this close to him. "It's not a big deal." I placed my hands on his as they rested on my stomach.

"I don't see Scott here dancing around my kitchen with an apron on. He wouldn't look nearly as cute." He reached forward and stole a piece of bacon as he leaned on the counter opposite of me. A knowing look in his eyes as I blushed.

"You're probably right." I laughed. "How's your leg?"

"I took some medicine before I came down, it's kicking in." He looked me to my soul. "Did you talk to Parrish yet? I mean, you were pretty torn up about it."

My eyes widened. "Uh, no. Not yet." I blew out a shaky breath. "I just don't want to hurt him."

He nodded. "Yeah, but you're hurting him anyway."

I broke my eyes away from him, then took off the apron. I began scrubbing the pans in the sink.

"Hey, I didn't mean to make you mad. I just don't-"

"You just what, Stiles?" I turned to him with expectant eyes.

Was he going to call me out on my feelings at some point? Was he going to tell me he felt the same way? Otherwise, why was he concerned when this didn't affect him?

He looked a little angry. "I just don't want to see you with him if you don't like him."

"And why not?"

He paused for a few moments then said, "Because you both deserve better than that. He's my friend, too. And he doesn't deserve this."

I bit into my lip. He was right, so I shouldn't have been mad at him, but I was. He didn't want me to break up with Jordan because he wanted me himself, he wanted me to do the right thing by his friend.

"On second thought, maybe we'll work things out." I regretted it as I said it, but more harm could it do at this point? I did like Jordan, I felt things when I was with him. We did have that whole connection of death between us. Plus, he was pretty good looking. But what if we really tried to make this work and something good came out of it? How do I know that he isn't who I'm supposed to be with? It wasn't like Stiles gave me any indication to think he was interested.

He looked at me with disbelieved eyes. "Seriously?" His tone accusatory.

I shrugged. "Why not give it another try, right?"

He gave a roll of his eyes as he pushed off the counter. "Whatever. I'm not hungry anymore." He started for the stairs.

Guilt ebbed in me. "Stiles,"

"I'm going to lay down. Thanks for the food."

I went after him. "Don't leave angry at me."

He turned around. "I'm not angry at you, Lydia." His tone suggested otherwise.

My arms folded across my chest. "But you're disappointed." I could tell that much.

His head shook. "No, you're just being you."

I let out an incredulous breath. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." He turned and headed up the steps.

Angry, I stormed out of the house. My heart pounded rapidly. I did my best to care for him and this was what I got in return? No thanks.

Scott pulled up as I neared my car. "Hey, I'm a little early. You're leaving?"

I nodded without a word.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." I opened the car door.

He pulled my arm back. "Lydia?" Concern in his voice.

I couldn't be mad at Scott because he didn't do anything, but I was still angry.

"Tell Stiles I won't be bothering him again."

Worry set in his brown eyes. "What happened?"

"Nothing." I scoffed. "See you later Scott." I hugged him briefly. "Love you." I pulled away and got in my car.

"Love you, too. Call me if you need anything. I'll keep you updated on Isaac." He insisted.

I nodded. "Thanks." I pulled off down the street, needing to seek comfort in the only person prepared to give me any.


	6. Coda 2

The song for this chapter is Coda. I have no idea who the song is by, I tried to find it. You can find it on youtube under Coda – The Walking Dead Soundtrack Remake. Sorry about this chapter. Well, not really. Please review/comment.

STILES' POV:

All of last night I thought about every moment Lydia and I had since I could remember and there was a lot. I tried to pinpoint the exact moment it happened for her, which was hard because I wasn't sure why she even liked me. I thought of when she pushed me out of the way at that creepy ass hotel, when I almost died because of the Nogitsune, when she kissed me…My eyes went to the pictures that caught her attention last night on my bookshelf. Both were of just the two of us, laughing in the first and her looking at me in the second while I looked at something else. Right there, I realized once I studied her. That was only a few weeks ago. But the way everyone made it sound was like this started long ago.

I reached under my bed where I kept all my photos in a box and laid them on my bed as I picked out every one with Lydia and I in it. The progression was fast, from my buzz cut and her distain of me to my longer hair and her small touches. With them in order as best as I could remember them, I saw what everyone else had. It was hard not to. I literally could see it with my own eyes. Why hadn't I'd seen it before? Two of my favorites were of Scott, Allison, Lydia, and I. One at the beginning of our friendship, the other towards the end of Allison's life. There was a distinct shift. In the first one, Lydia stood by Allison not smiling while I stood by Scott with the hugest grin on my face because I was in a picture with Lydia freaking Martin. In the second picture, Scott and Allison grinned lazily because they weren't in love anymore while I had my arm around Lydia's waist and she smiled up at me as we laughed about something. Maybe that was it.

My mind went back to a moment a month or two ago.

 _Lydia laid on her stomach across my bed while I finished my homework on the floor. She had finished a while ago, now immersed into a textbook about something that went over my head._

 _"Jordan asked me out." She huffed and dropped the textbook onto my bed with a stressed brow._

 _My eyes met hers. My forehead creased. "What?"_

 _She rolled her eyes. "He asked me out, Stiles."_

 _I laid my homework on the carpet and scooted up to the bed. "Are you thinking about it?"_

 _She shrugged. "I think so. I know he's older and this is probably a bad idea…" She huffed. "I don't know what to tell him." She searched my face for an answer as if it'd magically appear there._

 _My hands grabbed hers. "Do you want to date him?"_

 _"I don't think I'm ready." Her hands interlaced with mine. "Not with him, anyway."_

 _I nodded with a slight grin. "Then tell him you're not ready to date anyone. Or don't."_

 _She looked at me with hesitant hazel eyes like she wanted to tell me something, but couldn't._

 _"For what it's worth, I think you'd make a great couple. He cares about you, Lyds. Isn't that enough?"_

 _Her forehead creased. "Not these days. I want something more, Stiles." Her eyes searched mine._

 _I nodded. "You'll get it one day."_

 _Her dipped as she nodded. A sadness washed over her._

 _"Hey, what's wrong?" My eyes caught hers._

 _She shook her head. "Nothing, I just thought…" She sighed. "Nevermind, it's not important."_

 _"You sure?"_

 _She gave a weak smile, but her eyes said something else._

When the smell of breakfast food hit my nose I found my way down stairs to watch Lydia as she danced around my kitchen in an apron we never used.

I couldn't help but pull her to me in an embrace, our body heat warm enough to light a match. She placed her soft and delicate hands on top of mine as I hugged her. I resisted the urge to kiss her neck right then and there by grabbing a piece of bacon and putting distance between us. As I looked at her now, I could without a doubt see her attraction to me, her feelings all over her face. Now that she was a free woman, maybe we could go out on a date or at least talk about us.

When she said she hadn't broken up with Parrish that's when all hell broke loose and I said some shit I shouldn't have said. She just made me so angry. If she didn't like him and she liked me then what the hell was she doing?

After she left, I hobbled my way back to the kitchen for the food. There was no way I was going to skip the delicious food Lydia made because I was angry at her. I just wanted her to leave. Looking at her brought back every emotion I felt over the past ten years, which scared the shit out of me because I thought I was done with this, with her. Damn everyone for bringing this to my attention! I could've gone the rest of my life without going through this again.

The front door opened and I thought Lydia had come back to talk, but saw Scott instead.

He wore a stern look. "What the hell did you do to Lydia?" He demanded.

My eyes rolled. "I didn't do anything. We had a disagreement."

He stepped closer, a look of murder in his brown eyes. " _What_ did you do, Stiles?"

My irritation rose. "Calm the hell down. You're supposed to be _my_ friend, aren't you?"

"Not when you act like an asshole. I saw Lydia high tail it out of here, she was hurt and pissed." He pushed me back. "So what did you do?"

I shoved him back. "I just told her the truth!" My eyes blazed. "Every time she gets scared of feeling she gets a boy toy to distract her from what she's really feeling! She likes me, man and she won't break up with Parrish!" I punched the cabinet.

A few moments passed, he asked, "Do you feel better?"

I looked over at him with hesitant eyes. "No." I walked past him. "No, I don't. I wish you guys would've stayed out of it so I could've stayed oblivious and you had to butt in when it wasn't any of your business. She clearly didn't want me to know because she's still with him."

"Stiles?"

"What?" I turned to look at him.

He folded his arms across his broad chest. "I'm sorry, alright. I just wanted you to be happy."

"I was happy when I was ignorant." I insisted.

His head shook. "No, you weren't. You just think you were."

I let out an incredulous chuckle. "So you think you're my therapist now?"

He stepped closer, a softer look in his eyes. "No, I'm your friend." He playfully punched my shoulder. "I thought you deserved to know."

My head shook. Every emotion I had towards the strawberry blonde sat in my chest. "I don't want to feel like this again, Scott. I moved on because she didn't feel the same way and I made peace with that. Now I know she feels the same way and she doesn't want me. I was such an ass to her, I don't even know how to apologize."

His hand squeezed my shoulder. "Relax. Give it some time. She'll realize what's right in front of her. That you want her, too." He grinned.

A chuckle broke from me. "You're too excited about this."

"We've been waiting months. Well, they've been waiting months, I've been waiting years."

I smacked his chest. "You and me both, buddie."

The front door opened and in walked Chris Argent with someone I thought I'd never see again.

"Allison?"

She looked up at us with frightened eyes as she trembled.

I heard a thump and looked down to see Scott passed out.

LYDIA'S POV:

It was Jordan's day off so when I knocked on his apartment door he answered.

He looked at me with worried eyes. "What's wrong?"

I hugged him. "I just missed you."

He wrapped one arm around me. "Could've fooled me."

I pulled away with a curious look. "What?"

"Last night, you were pretty upset with me for no reason." His eyes showed how frustrated he was. "I can't just up and leave my job to come help you guys when a problem arises. You think I can because I'm a deputy, but I have orders to follow, assignment with deadlines, paperwork…" He huffed. "I can't be there for you all the time, I know that sounds bad, but we need to talk, anyway." He stepped out of the way to allow me to come in. He closed the door behind him.

I sat on his couch, not liking the vibe in here at all.

He sat beside me. "Last night wasn't about me, was it?" His voice calmed down. "It was about Stiles, just like right now is about Stiles."

My head shook. "Why are you bringing him up? He has nothing to do with us."

"Lydia, I see the way he looks at you. How you are around him. How just hearing his voice affects you. He has everything to do with us."

"That's not true," I assured him. My hand grabbed his. "I like you, Jordan."

And I did. I really did.

He nodded. "I know, but not how you love him. If you were with Stiles right now you would make the long distance thing work, but I'm not Stiles. And that's okay, I just don't want you to lie to me or yourself." He pulled his hands away.

I nodded in shame. _There was no hope for me_ , I thought dramatically.

"So this is it?" I asked. "We're done?"

He sighed. "We have to be, Lydia. We both know you haven't been into this from the start. I know you like me, but sometimes that isn't enough." He squeezed my hand.

"Are you mad at me?" I asked in a small voice.

His head shook. "Of course not. We're still friends." He gave a soft smile. "I'll always be here for you. I'm a part of the pack, remember?"

I let out a shaky laugh. "Yeah. I'm sorry about all of this." I met his eyes. "I really wanted to like you enough…But…It doesn't matter anymore."

"What happened with Stiles that made you come over here?"

I didn't even want to think about it. I was a bitch for what I said to him and I only said it to try and get a rise out of him. Foul play.

My head hung. "We had a fight and now he probably never wants to see me again."

He laid a hand on my shoulder. "Come on, we're talking about Stiles here. He probably already feels bad and is thinking of a way to apologize himself."

Yeah, right.

"No, he was pretty upset with me. I deserved it though because he was right. I was using you and I'm so sorry." My eyes begged him to forgive me.

He pulled me to him. "It's okay. We're okay. I'm not mad at you, I promise." He whispered.

The day passed by with the two of us hanging out at his apartment. Yes, it wasn't the ideal situation considering we just broke up, but we were still pack and pack took care of each other. We watched some Netflix, ordered food, and talked about the future. I told him I was scared about graduating, about what comes after. He reassured me that no matter what we'd all still be pack.

We were on the last episode of season one of _Friends_ when my phone rang. It was Scott.

"Hey," He breathed heavily. "We've got company."

Isaac!

I shot up. "He's back? Is he okay?"

"For the most part, yeah. We're all at Stiles'. I know you two had a fight earlier, but it would be really nice if you came over. Isaac asked about you."

I nodded. "Okay, I'm at Jordan's. We're heading over now."

We took two separate cars over to Stiles' as if to signal our split. My heart pounded in my chest. I missed him so much when I didn't even really get to know him. He was so closely tied to Allison that I felt that if I saw him then I'd see her. If only, right.

Jordan held my hand as we walked up the driveway.

Malia answered the door as I was about to push it open. She hugged me tight.

I was a little thrown off, not by the hug, but by the sad look in her eyes directed towards me. "He's in the kitchen with everyone else." She said.

I tugged Jordan along with me.

My eyes spotted Stiles first. He leaned against the wall looking every bit of beautifully solemn. He looked at me with sad eyes as if apologizing for something that was beyond his control. His eyes went to my hand in Jordan's and he looked away.

I pulled my hand free as I looked around the room and found that everyone wore the same look.

Liam held Mason as he cried. Hayden wiped the wetness from her face.

"Corey didn't make it." Malia mumbled to us, a sadness in her voice.

No. Not Corey. My heart broke for Mason. He clutched at emptiness as Liam held onto him.

Scott stood by Isaac, who had a blanket wrapped around him as he sipped a cup of tea. He wouldn't meet my eyes. He wouldn't look at anybody.

"Lydia," A familiar voice called.

I turned to see Chris Argent in the entry way and my heart stuttered in my chest as I spotted her.

"Allison?"

She looked at me with those coffee colored eyes, but they weren't hers. She looked down quickly as she hugged herself.

My eyes went to Stiles, not understanding.

He nodded once.

I took a step closer.

Chris held up a hand. "It's best not to touch her. She's been through a lot." He sighed. "She doesn't remember anything." His sad eyes met mine.

I looked back at Scott who had a frozen look on his face. My heart broke for him, too. I looked at Allison.

"You remember me, right?" I insisted desperately. "I'm your best friend."

She shook her head, her head still down.

My heart broke for me. My hand went to my hollow stomach. "Look at me." I begged. "You're my sister." My voice broke. "Allison!"

She shrank behind her dad.

I looked to Stiles as if he held the solution.

He walked over to me, ignoring the pain in his leg, and pulled me to him. "I'm sorry." He muttered into my hair.

My heart felt as if it were in my throat. "No," I protested, but he held on tight. "No, she can't…" I struggled to pull away, but he wouldn't let me go. "Please," I cried as I beat at his chest.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered again.

With that the walls of semi composure crumbled. I let out the sobs for him not wanting me, for Malia almost dying, for Kira not being here, for Aiden dying, for Corey dying, for Mason's pain, for Scott's pain, for Allison's death and her return with amnesia. All of it fled out of me as I slid to the floor in Stiles' safe and warm embrace that wasn't enough this time while he rocked us back and forth.

So…yeah. I'll update as soon as I can. I couldn't write a longer chapter because I have classes all day today and I wanted to get this up as soon as possible. What did yall think? Please please please leave a review or comment, they really help know where yall are at and if you like the fic so far. I really wanted to bring Allison back a little later after Isaac settled in, but this seemed more dramatic lol. I wrote Allison coming back in another one of my fics – I'm Scared Of Losing You-, but I haven't written for that in a while. Anyway, please let me know what yall think. Have a nice day


	7. Reunion

So this is a description of the time periods in this chapter. Some of you said you were confused in the previous chapters because I jump around with the time periods for each character, so I hope this helps for the chapter :P

Scott's pov: When they went to go save Isaac.

Lydia's pov: directly after she found out Allison was alive.

The song for this chapter is also by the account Koba on youtube: Koba - Reunion

SCOTT'S POV:

All I could do was stare at her as she shrank back from us. She looked the same, but so different. For one, her hair was longer, but not quite as long as when we first met. A scar hooked from her left ear to her chin, marring her perfect pale complexion. Her once warm and fierce caramel eyes were now frightened and fleeting.

"How did this happen?" I asked.

Argent shook his head. "We don't know. I got a call from a cousin in France and they said I needed to come as soon as possible. I got there to find her like this. She just appeared on their doorstep."

I slid down into the nearest chair, unable to comprehend what was before me.

"How do you know it's Allison and not someone who just looks insanely like her?" Stiles asked.

Argent looked at him. "Why would she find an Argent institute?"

"Institute?" Stiles asked. "You have an institute? What, you learn like how to use weapons and stuff?" He looked at me. "That's pretty cool."

"Something like that."

My hands ran over my face as I tried to come to terms with this.

"Scott, are you okay?" Argent asked.

I nodded. My eyes went to Allison. She stared at me with foreign eyes. I wasn't sure which part hurt more. The fact that she lost her memory or that she hadn't recognized me at first sight.

I stood. "We need to find out how this happened."

He nodded. "I'll help you find Isaac. He was my responsibility, anyway." A look of guilt passed over him. "I never should've left him, when I got back he was gone."

"It's not your fault." I told him sincerely.

Allison looked around Stiles' living room, but remained close to her dad's side.

Stiles reached for his phone. "I have to call Lydia."

"Don't!" I yelled.

Allison jumped.

"Why not? She deserves to know. Allison was her best friend."

Argent stepped forward. "Scott's right. It's too soon. Besides, we have to make a plan to find Isaac. Then call Lydia."

Stiles nodded. "Fine."

I watched as everyone arrived, a look of confusion on their faces. Everyone had seen pictures of Allison, but they probably hadn't placed who she was.

Malia was the first to speak up. "Allison?" She went to poke at her, but Chris stood his ground. Malia came to where Stiles and I stood. "What the hell is going on?" She looked between the two of us.

"We're not sure." Stiles told her. "It just sort of happened."

"Is everyone here?" Argent asked.

I looked around the room. Everyone except for Lydia and Parrish, and Braeden. She had to run out of town for a few days.

"Yes." I answered.

"Let's get started."

Two hours later we headed to the abandoned distillery Chris had gotten word of as their location of the last few days. Argent wanted Allison to stay behind with Stiles. I suggested that they talk, but I didn't think Stiles would get anything out of her. Lydia was at Parrish's, I texted him to keep her there. That left me with Mason and Malia and Hayden while Corey and Liam went with Argent. The distillery was only a few miles outside of town, but it felt like an eternity until we reached the town.

Argent pulled his SUV off to the side of the rode, I followed on my motorcycle while Malia drove her car.

I could feel everyone's anxiety as we pulled to a stop. We couldn't just drive up to the distillery and expect them not to get suspicious. So we parked a half a mile back and walked the rest of the way.

"Are you sure about this?" Liam asked me.

I turned to him. "Liam, we can't just leave him here to die. We don't even know if he's still alive. He's pack just like you."

"But he was your first beta."

My shoulders shrugged. "So?"

"I mean, he's been gone for a year and some change. How well do you really know him?"

A snicker came from Mason and Corey, I ignored it.

"Why are you jealous?"

He scoffed. "Who said I was jealous? I'm not." He gestured to Hayden, Mason, and Corey. "We're just rushing to risk our lives for a guy _we_ don't know. What if this is a trap? What if he's working with these hunters?"

"Impossible." Argent spoke up. "We don't work with what we hunt."

We all gave him a look.

He nodded. "I'm not hunting any of you, am I?"

Point taken.

Corey spoke up. "If Scott says Isaac's pack then he's pack. We don't have to question this." He slapped Liam's shoulder. "The sooner we get this over with the sooner we get to know him."

Liam sent him an angry look. "I wasn't talking to you." Liam pushed him back a few feet.

Mason stepped in. "Hey, it's not our fault that you're jealous."

A look of hurt flashed in Liam's eyes. "Et tu, Mason?"

Mason shook his head. "It's not like that, dude."

"Are none of you worried about this?" He looked at each of us. "We are jumping into a problem that's not ours."

Hayden pulled herself away from him. "It'll be our problem if they decide to come after us. Besides, it doesn't matter if he's one of us or not. They're going to kill him. Don't you get that?" She looked at him with foreign eyes.

He huffed. "How about I stay here in case anything goes wrong?" He looked at me as he spoke to everyone else. "You don't have to go along with this just because Scott said so."

What was going on with him? Why was this affecting him so much? Did he not trust me now or was it pure jealousy?

I huffed. "Fine. You stay here. The rest of you can follow me or stay with Liam. Your choice."

Malia came to my side instantly with a look of loyalty in her brown eyes. Argent followed soon after. He would go in alone if need be because he felt that sense of fatherhood over Isaac since Allison died.

"You don't have to be like this, Liam." Mason insisted.

He stood his ground. "I'm not being like anything. I just don't want to risk my life for someone I've never met, someone we can't trust."

Hayden sighed, then came to stand by me. "Sorry."

Liam looked between Mason and Corey. "You can stay with me."

Corey shook his head. "You're not the Alpha, Liam."

"You mean, I'm not the Alpha _yet_." He looked back at me.

Panic filled my chest. Did I do something to make him challenge me? Had I hurt his feelings? Not shown him enough attention?

Corey shook his head at him as he joined me.

Mason grabbed his shoulder. "Tell me you're not serious?"

Liam shrugged. "It's going to happen sooner or later. They're all going to leave and it's just going to be us. We're going to have to survive on our own." He insisted.

Mason hesitated, but headed towards the rest of us.

With the sting of betrayal in the air, we started forward.

Malia grabbed my hand shortly after.

I looked down at our joined hands.

"He's just scared." She whispered, even though everyone could hear her.

I nodded. "Maybe so, but he's not wrong. I shouldn't have asked you all to do this. It wasn't fair."

Her eyes wildened. "You're the Alpha, Scott. A True Alpha at that. Why would we question you?"

Maybe Liam was right. It sounded like I was a dictator.

"Maybe you should start." I pulled my hand away and walked ahead.

MALIA'S POV:

This wasn't right. We were on different sides and as a pack we should never be on different sides. I had a bad feeling that some of us did feel the same way as Liam or that they would start to. What if Scott did leave after graduation? I wasn't going anywhere, so Liam would be the Alpha. Anytime there was talk of a power shift it was bad news. And the fact that Scott doubted himself spoke volumes about his sense of self. He was a good guy and he always thought of others. He always wanted to help someone else. I couldn't imagine him not being the Alpha. Liam wasn't ready, he was too hot headed.

Hayden walked beside me, she elbowed me with amused eyes.

"What?"

She nodded ahead of us where Scott was, her eyebrows lifted.

My head shook. "Don't go there."

"Why not?" She grinned.

I rolled my eyes. She thought I liked Scott? Not even. He was Scott. He was noble. He was a leader. He was sweet and adorable. My eyes landed on him again. He was admittedly attractive. No, this was Scott we were talking about. I shook my head.

She elbowed my shoulder again.

"Would you stop?" I tried to refrain from laughter.

I could see it in her face that she was about to crack, but she looked away to hide her laugh with a cough.

When we got there we ended up reforming our two groups now that Liam wasn't with us; Hayden and I went with Scott loyally while Mason and Corey went with Chris Argent. I'm sure Chris knew what he was doing better than any of us, but he wasn't Scott.

We crouched low to the ground as we searched the place with no sign of Isaac so far.

What if he wasn't here? What if Liam was right and this was a trap? Regardless, we had to try.

The sound of faint footsteps came from nearby. Scott looked back at us with the promise to be careful.

My heart pounded in my chest. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was over the last time I was stabbed, but I know that we had to get Isaac back. I may have lived by a survivor of the fittest attitude while I was a coyote, but we didn't leave people behind. That's the most important thing Scott had taught me.

We readied ourselves as we rounded the corner only to find Chris with Corey and Mason. Most of us sighed in relief while Scott and Argent looked defeated.

"Where is he?" Scott voiced. "His scent is here."

A door opened and out stumbled Isaac. He looked shaken up with a nervous sweaty stench.

Scott ran to him. "Are you okay?"

Isaac took in the rest of us, but his eyes landed on Chris. "What is he doing here?"

Chris stepped forward. "We're here to take you home."

Isaac shook his head. "There's no home with you around." He spat.

I looked at Chris to find a tense look on his weathered face. I thought those two had a father son bond or whatever.

"There's no time for this, Isaac. You're coming with us."

He shook his head. "No, you don't understand." He gestured behind him. "This is your warning; leave Beacon Hills or everyone dies."

What?

"What are you talking about?" Scott asked.

"The Gahijis aren't like other hunters. They'll kill anyone who gets in their way." His eyes pleaded with us. "This is the only warning you'll get. Leave."

Scott neared him, but Isaac backed away. "I don't understand," Scott said. "Are you with them?"

He shook his head. "Of course not, but this isn't about me. I'm trying to save your lives. Forget about me, I'll be okay." He promised as he backed away. "I'll hold my own." He nodded at Scott.

"Isaac!" Chris called.

"We can't just leave him here." Corey added.

"You have to! They have Liam. And they'll only give him back if you leave right now."

Mason and Scott stilled.

"What do you mean they have Liam?" Hayden demanded. She started forward but I caught her wrist and pulled her back.

"Why are they doing this?" Chris asked. "No one here broke any rules. No one here is dangerous."

"Tell that to them. I tried convincing them, but they're on this holier than thou path, talking about a Cleansing. They're only keeping me alive to help lore out supernatural creatures. I'm their toy." He gave a bitter smile as he looked at Chris.

I sighed. "What do we do?"

Scott looked back at me with unsure eyes.

Before the others could pick up on it I stepped forward. "We can fight them."

"They stabbed you and knocked Braeden out. She's a mercenary, skilled at killing. Maybe we should do what they say. No one gets hurt."

"They took us by surprise, that's all." I insisted. "Besides someone is already hurt." My eyes went to Isaac.

Isaac neared the door he came out of. "Listen to their warning, please." He disappeared.

Mason ran forward. "I'm not leaving my best friend with these psychos!"

Corey ran after him. Hayden broke free from my grasp and raced after them both.

"Mason!" Scott called, but none of them stopped as they disappeared through the door.

Crap.

Scott cursed under his breath.

The rest of us went after them with panic in the air.

One of the Gahijis had Liam chained to a railing. There was a familiar looking purple flower set to him as he cowered in pain. Wolf's Bane. Corey and Hayden fought the Gahijis to the best of their ability, but they were getting their ass kicked. I ran to help Hayden with the tall bug eyed one.

"Get Liam!" I instructed her.

She ran towards the other guarding him.

I was knocked upside the head. Angrily, I turned towards the bastard and fought him as if he were the source of every bad thing that had happened to me.

"You don't have to do this!" I heard Chris say. "We'll leave!"

I clawed at the hunter's face, he knocked me in the stomach with a baton of some sort. I stumbled back. Scott intervened with a kick to his side.

"Fall back." He told me, then went after Hayden.

I eyed the hunter on the ground and looked for Chris. He stood by the door with his gun ready to shoot.

"Everyone stop." Scott yelled, but Hayden wouldn't stop fighting for Liam and Mason had gotten his ass kicked early on so Corey was furious.

The Gahiji he fought was short, but fast and skilled. He kicked Corey back and left Mason exposed to the sword in the hunter's hand.

"No!" Liam cried.

It was like slow motion. I saw the blade of the sword fling out towards Mason's head, the fear in his eyes, and in the blink of an eye Corey pushed him out of the way and took his place. Corey's head rolled to the floor, a pool of blood followed it.

Mason scampered away from it, a look of shock on his face, shock that we all felt at one of our friend's dying in front of us.

Chris let go a round of bullets into the one that killed Corey.

Scott roared so loud I thought the windows trembled. Everyone looked to him because he was the Alpha and the hunters could tell. "We'll leave right now, but we're not leaving without Liam and Isaac. No one else has to die. Just let us leave." He spoke with authority and honesty in his brown eyes.

"I advise you do what he says." Chris stepped forward with his gun cocked. "You are living in the old ways. These are good people. And you just killed a teenager. I tend to frown upon that." He brought out a second gun and aimed it at the other Gahiji. "What's it going to be?"

The Gahiji by Liam spoke. "We aren't the only ones that believe in The Cleansing. You are all abominations that deserve to die." He spat. "God didn't want this."

"You don't know what God would've wanted." Chris argued. "But I hope your faith lands you where you deserve." He shot them both in the head.

Hayden scrambled to get Liam free from the shackles. "Are you okay?"

He nodded as he looked at Corey's body in front of Mason. He hugged Hayden quickly then went to Mason, who was still in shock. He helped him up, but Mason just had a faraway look on his face.

Chris went to Scott. "We have to get rid of the bodies. We'll burn them."

"What about Corey?" Hayden asked. "We can't burn his body!"

I hugged her to my side. "We'll give him a proper funeral. How are we going to explain this to his parents or to the police?"

Chris saddened. "The same thing we always tell them. He was in the wrong place in the wrong time. Gang activity."

I had never witnessed a friend die before. I never had any friends before Scott saved me, I wasn't sure how to process this. Corey and I weren't close, but we were still pack, and we could all feel a little piece of us lost. I could see it in everyone's eyes.

"You!" Liam yelled. "Corey's dead because of _you_!"

We looked to see Isaac had come out of hiding.

Liam charged him.

Scott held him back. "It's not his fault, Liam."

Liam turned his angry yellow eyes on Scott. "And how is that?"

"Because he didn't ask for any of this." He kept his voice even, but I could tell he was done with dealing with today. "He warned us. Twice."

They stared at each other long and hard before Liam broke his gaze to look at Isaac with narrowed eyes. "I still don't trust you." He told him then went back to Mason's side.

Scott huffed then turned to Isaac. "You can stay with me again if you want."

He nodded. "Thanks. I didn't think I could come back here after Allison's death, but I think it'll be good for me."

We all stilled.

Chris spoke up. "There's something you need to know."

"What?" He wouldn't look at Chris.

"Allison's alive."

Isaac's blue eyes snapped to his. "What?"

LYDIA'S POV:

I wasn't sure how long we stayed there on Stiles' kitchen floor, but by the time he scooped me up and brought me to his room the only other person amongst us was Scott. My tears had long subsided, but I couldn't even form words to tell them I wasn't okay. They knew that already.

My arms clung to Stiles, not wanting to lose contact with him, but he had to put me down. What could I do besides lay there? There were no words for how I felt right now.

"Do you want me to take you home in a little, Lydia?" Scott asked me.

My head shook, but I didn't meet his eyes.

"She's staying here." Stiles told him.

They had a few more exchanges, but I didn't pay attention. My mind filled with a billion different thoughts. How was Allison alive? Did someone bring her back? Was this a permanent thing or temporary? Why couldn't she remember anything?

Stiles came to sit in front of the bed, his hand grabbed mine. He waited until my eyes met his. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head.

"Do you want to go to bed?"

I shook my head.

"Do you want to shower or eat some food?"

I shook my head, my eyes lowered.

"Tell me how I can help, please." Desperation in his voice.

My eyes went to the picture on his bookshelf. "I want Allison back." Tears brimmed in my eyes, but I blinked them away. "But you can't do that."

He sagged with a small sigh before he turned his lamp off and climbed into bed with me. He pulled the covers over us while I snuggled up to his warm chest.

"What about your leg?"

"It's fine. And this is going to be okay." His voice barely above a whisper. "We'll figure this out. Scott will figure this out. We'll fix it."

I looked up at him and waited until he looked down. "How? She doesn't remember anything, Stiles. She's scared of her own reflection. This is Allison we're talking about; she's not scared of anything."

His hand cupped my face. "Look at our lives, this isn't the end all be all. Okay? If she was brought back she can get her memories back."

The feeling of his hand on my skin and his closeness distracted me from the conversation at hand.

"She'll remember who you are. We just have to jog her memory." He insisted. "We can start tomorrow."

Honestly, words just went over my head as he moved closer. His lips were angled towards mine, but they landed on my cheek which sent tingles to my no no area.

Another stab of rejection ran through me.

"Get some rest. You'll need it tomorrow."

I started to say something more, but what good would it do?

He skillfully traced patterns on my skin, both setting me on edge and lulling me to sleep. My mind was conflicted. Should I excuse myself to the bathroom to take care of my situation or just close my eyes?

"Lydia?" He asked after a while.

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry about this morning. I shouldn't have said that."

A small smile formed on my face. "It's already forgotten." I promised.

With that, my eyes finally shut and I drifted off to sleep.

The following morning, I woke with a pair of lips on my neck, Stiles' arm wrapped around me as my back nuzzled into his chest, and a very attentive part of him poking into my leg. I froze.

What do I do?

"Stiles?"

Nothing.

"Stiles?" I called a little louder.

His lips moved on my neck, sending heat everywhere. "Hmm?" He hummed.

My eyes fluttered shut as he scooted even closer, his hand moved down south.

"Stiles?" I asked breathlessly.

His nose moved over my shoulder before he planted a kiss there.

"Stiles," I moaned as his hand dipped into my thong and found my wetness. It was like an ocean down there. I don't think I'd ever been this turned on before.

"Tell me to stop and I'll stop." He whispered into my ear.

I couldn't even speak so how was I going to tell him under no circumstance should he stop?

"I know you want me, Lydia." He inserted a finger inside me and it was my undoing. He worked his fingers in and out of me. "Good girl." He sucked on my neck.

I couldn't stop the loud moan from escaping. Hopefully, his dad was already at work.

He added another finger and I knew there was a reason I fantasized about those long skinny fingers. If he kept this up, I'd be done with in no time.

"Cum for me." He demanded.

My eyes squeezed shut. "Stiles!" I groaned.

"Lydia," Someone shook me awake. "Lydia, are you okay?"

My eyes flashed open to realize that I just had a wet dream about Stiles in his own bed with him looking at me like a crazy person. He wore a towel around his waist, his hair was slicked back, and water dripped off his skin as if he jumped out of the shower to check on me.

Holy Hell.

"Uh."

His eyes searched mine. "You had a nightmare?"

I jumped to my feet, embarrassed beyond belief. Thankfully, he hadn't pieced it together. Not yet, anyway.

"I-I have to go home." I tucked my hair behind my ear and put on my shoes. My eyes drifted to his naked and wet skin. My head shook. Too soon. Even sitting on this bed I could feel my vagina pulse.

"Well, are you okay? I heard you screaming from the bathroom. "Did I like die or something?"

 _No, but you murdered my vagina_ , I thought, but I couldn't say that.

"Sometimes, I can't tell dreams from reality." That was as honest an answer he'd get out of me on the subject.

I headed for the door with minimal checking out his chest. A hot bath was in order. Something that let me take the edge of.

"You're coming back right?"

Those words I didn't need to hear.

I nodded. "See ya."

All the way home I mentally cursed myself. How irresponsible could my mind be? Thank God, he didn't figure out the truth. Or maybe he would because he's smart. It wasn't until I had finished myself off in my bubble bath that there was knock on my bathroom door.

"I'm coming in. I hope you're decent." Stiles barged inside with a determined look in his eyes until he saw me in the tub. He huffed then turned around with his back to me.

"Yes, Stiles?" I asked with a hint of amusement as I checked him out.

He turned back to me. "I know what your dream was about. It took me a bit to figure it out, but I did."

My leg rose from the water and I rested it on the side of the tub. "And?"

He looked taken aback. "You're not even going to deny it?"

I tried my best to look bored, but I was freaking out on the inside. "Why should I?" I played with some of the bubbles. "It was just a dream, Stiles." My eyes met his. "People have them all the time. It wasn't the first, won't be the last." I said nonchalantly as I closed my eyes.

After a few moments, I opened them to find him still standing there with his hands propped on his hips.

"Oh, come on. It's not like you haven't had them about me or Kira or Hayden. We see each other every day all day. Some of us aren't getting any so who else would our minds think of in that moment?"

He mulled that over. "But you're not deprived. You have Parrish."

My head shook. "Not anymore." I cleared my throat. "This water is getting cold so unless you want to continue this conversation with me naked I suggest you wait in my room."

"We're not through with this conversation." He looked as if he considered staying, but eventually closed the door behind him.


	8. Monday

The song for this chapter is Matt Corby – Monday (the mattcorbyau version)

STILES' POV:

I patiently waited for Lydia as I paced her room. What is going on, I wondered. For my whole life I waited for Lydia to even acknowledge me and now that we're as close as can be and I've moved on she pulls this crap. Was I angry? A little. I didn't know what she wanted from me or out of us. If she wanted a relationship wouldn't she have told me a long time ago? So how much did she really like me?

My mind replayed the fact that she had a sex dream about me in my own bed at the very least! Did that excuse she used really validate that it was nothing or was it just an excuse? Sure, I had dreams about all of the girls, even Melissa, but that didn't mean I wanted them. Nonetheless, I still wanted to hear the words from the horse's mouth; did she like me?

While she got ready in the bathroom I took the time to wander around her room. I was here only a few weeks ago, but somehow it seemed different. Her purple walls glared at me, telling me that I didn't belong here. Someone like Jackson did. Not me.

I picked up the drawing of the Nemeton I framed for her that now sat on her bedside table. She put it there as soon as I gave it to her and I hadn't really thought about whether or not it was for my benefit or if she actually liked seeing it there. These damn feelings were so difficult. I didn't know whether to push them away or to embrace them. Part of me wished to go back to when I wasn't aware of any of this because I just wanted my friend back with no complications.

"Alright," Lydia stepped out of the bathroom and headed for the stairs only to pause when she saw me standing by her window.

She wore a flowy yellow and red flower print dress with black heels. Her strawberry blonde hair fell in beachy curls to her tiny waist. Her red lipstick pulled into a tight grin as she looked me up and down, which showcased her dimples. Effortlessly gorgeous inside and out.

My heart stammered in my chest as she stepped close. The breeze from her opened window ruffled her dress and hair, and sent a wave of her musky perfume my way.

"Are you here for an inquisition, Stiles?" Her head tilted in that curious way of hers.

I raised the drawing as an example. "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked with full confidence now. My eyes searched hers.

When she tried to speak nothing came out. She sat on her bed and looked up at me. "I tried, but I didn't know how." She let out an incredulous laugh. "I mean, wasn't it obvious?"

My head shook. "Not to me."

A grin came to her red lips. "Didn't I tell you that you were oblivious?"

I went to sit beside her with not much distance between us. "How long have you…felt that way?"

She blew out a shaky breath. Was she sweating?

Her shoulders shrugged. "A while. I'm not really sure when it happened. I do know that it was after our kiss." Her eyes had a faraway look as if she thought back to it and smiled. "Lydia, that's a year." My brow furrowed. "You lied to me for a year."

"What do you want me to say? That I liked lying to you? Or that I liked watching you with Malia? Or that when I was with Jordan I was thinking of you?"

I froze, my brow deepened. I cleared my throat. "Were you?"

"Not like that," She clarified as her face reddened. "Can we not talk about this right now?"

I cracked a grin. "Then when?"

"Maybe over the phone. That way I don't have to see you looking at me."

My head shook. "What are you afraid of?"

She averted her green eyes as she shrugged.

"Hey," My hand turned her face to look at me. She automatically leaned into my touch. I gulped at the action. "Talk to me."

It took her a few moments to say it, but she finally said, "This could never work between us."

My hand fell from her face.

"Because you're right. I use people." She nodded. "And I'm almost certain that I would break your heart. You're way too good for me, Stiles. And we're all going off to different colleges. How in the world would we make long distance work? I'm not fighting girls off of you from another state. And even if none of that mattered," She breathed. "I don't want to lose your friendship, not because I feel this way."

I nodded, but didn't say anything. I couldn't tell if she assumed that I had feelings for her still or not. Either way, it seemed that she already made her mind up about it and that was the reason she never planned on bringing it up. Now, I really wished that everyone would've stayed out of it. We would've gone on with our lives as planned. Now, I was reduced to figuring out my feelings for Lydia Martin all over again.

"Please, say something."

My eyes went to the drawing. "Why do you have feelings for me?" I looked back at her.

"Stiles," She complained. "This-It's not going to help."

My eyes pleaded with hers. "I need to know, Lydia." My hand held hers.

She huffed. "Okay." Her red lips pressed together. "You were there for me. It's as simple as that." She nodded. "When everyone else left me, you were there. Always." She grinned. "At first, I took it for granted, then Allison died." Her eyes went to our hands. "I had Kira, Malia, and Scott. But you were different." She entwined our fingers together. "You became my constant. My emotional tether. My best friend." She blew out a shaky breath, but kept our eyes locked. "When I think of you, I think of home." She tried to fight the smile on her beautiful face, but it won out. "You're the best guy I know, which, I guess, isn't saying much, but it's true. Your kind hearted, smart, and you believed in me when no one else did. You loved me when I wasn't sure what love even was. When I see you my heart dips. And…" A coy grin took over her face. "I kind of think you're attractive."

A grin tugged at my lips. "You think I'm attractive?"

Her eyes ran over my face, taking in every detail as if it took time. "You wanted to know, Stiles."

My gaze left hers as I nodded. "Maybe you were right. Maybe I shouldn't have asked." I pulled my hand away, making me feel cold.

She sagged. "Maybe we should give each other some space." She rose to her feet, feeling breathless.

"Lydia, come on." I started. "That's not necessary."

"Your friendship is really important to me, Stiles. I don't want to jeopardize it by making it weird."

I sighed. "Then we won't jeopardize it. Like you said, we're friends. We're pack, dammit. If you think giving each other space won't make it weird then you're wrong." I started to stand, but she pushed me back down on the bed.

"Don't strain yourself for my benefit."

My eyes gazed up at her because now I could see absolutely everything.

Her breath halted as I looked at her red mouth. What would happen if we kissed? Would that change her mind? Did I want her to change her mind? Did she want me to change her mind?

She pulled away with a huff. "I'm sorry for all of this. I know that you moved on and you were okay with that, which is why I didn't want you to know. How did you even find out? You're smart, but not that smart."

Should I be offended? Probably.

I patted the bed and grabbed the gauze from her bedside table. Her hands were healing, but they were pretty gruesome.

"Just a little birdy."

She bit the inside of her cheek. "Scott?" She gave me her hands.

I shrugged and made a face. "My sources are anonymous."

Her eyes narrowed.

"What are you going to torture it out of me?"

She looked as if she thought about it, a glint of lust in her jade eyes, but she blinked it away. "I suppose you were bound to find out anyway."

I put the prescribed ointment on the bandage then wrapped it around her hand. "This won't change anything between us. You're my go-to girl. You're my best friend. Nothing's going to change that, Lyds."

Her fingers curled around mine, a look of relief in her eyes. "Thanks for saying that." Her eyes went to my leg. "When is your next checkup? I can take you."

I started on her other hand. "Um, Tuesday, so tomorrow." I sighed. "I don't know if I'm ready for school to start back up on Wednesday. Everything's different now. Have you even heard from Kira?"

"It saddens me to say this, but I think we need to accept that Kira is gone. Her journey with the Skinwalkers will take as long as it takes and we probably won't be alive to see her come back to us."

My head hung, worry filled my heart.

"What is it?"

"I'm worried about Scott. Something is going on with him and I'm not sure what it is. I know he misses Kira and Allison coming back probably messed him up, but there's something else going on." I looked to her. "Do you have any idea what it is?"

Her lips pressed together as her head tilted. "Maybe we should ask Malia?"

We shared a look.

"Do you really think that he has feelings for her? I mean, he wouldn't date her after we…would he?"

She looked uncomfortable with the question, but shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not the best person to ask considering Malia is one of my closest friends."

I let out huff. It wasn't like I still wanted Malia, but bro code dude.

"Do you still like her…" Lydia voiced as she looked towards her window.

Was she jealous?

"No, but she was my first girlfriend, my first…" Our eyes locked. "You know. That's kind of weird if he does like her. Does he like her?"

She let out a chuckle. "I don't think so. I just think they've gotten closer and her getting stabbed scared the hell out of him. It scared the hell out of all of us." Her hand found my shoulder. "If you think they're headed in the direction and I don't think they are, then just talk to him about it."

I made a face. "What am I going to say? If you like Malia please don't date her because that would be awkward for me? How much of a dick would I sound like, Lydia?"

Her face twisted in doubt. "I guess, you're right." She pursed her lips. "I don't know what to tell you."

Amusement filled me at how cute she was, worried about my problems and completely uncaring of how it made her feel.

"What?" she asked at my prolonged staring.

"You're just adorable."

Her cheeks instantly flushed as she looked away. She bit the inside of her cheek to refrain from smiling. "Thanks." She muttered.

A laugh left me. "Lydia," I caught her gaze. "If you ever want to move forward I'd be okay with that." I nodded. "And if not then I'd be okay with that, too."

She peeped up at me with nervous eyes as she gulped. "Good to know…I just thought you didn't feel that anymore."

"I didn't until I really looked at you and I knew that I'd never stop loving you, friend and all." I gave a reassuring half grin.

Her eyes searched mine and she blinked heavily as she averted her gaze.

"Should I have kept that to myself?" I whispered.

She shook her head. "No, but it doesn't make it easier."

"Honey," Her mom called as she walked up the stairs. "I got your medication renewed!" She came to the door. "Oh, Stiles." She grinned. "How are you feeling? I was so sorry to hear about your leg."

I waved it off even though it did hurt most of the time. Thinking about other things helped. Like Lydia.

"I'd be a lot worse if it hadn't been for your daughter."

Lydia blushed scarlet as she shot me a look. "He's being overzealous, mom."

She grinned at the two of us. "Well, I'm about to make some lunch. Do you want to stay, Stiles?"

"Sure." I grinned.

A car horn insentiently beeped from outside as vehicles parked and rumbled in front of our house.

"That would be your pack wouldn't it?" She asked.

We nodded. "Probably." We said simultaneously.

"A buffet coming up then." She headed down the stairs.

Lydia looked to me. "I thought we were all going to your house?"

"I told Scott it would better if we came here. She's your best friend after all." A small sadness washed over me, which was totally selfish, but it did.

She gave me a tiny grin. "Stiles, you're my best friend without a doubt. Just like Scott is your brother, Allison is my sister. You don't have anything to worry about." Her eyes widened as she realized something and shot up. "My mom doesn't know-"

A loud clatter came from down stairs as if on cue.

"Crap." She headed for the door, then looked back at me. "Do you need help with the stairs?"

Very much embarrassed, I shook my head. "I'll be fine."

She didn't look convinced; the look she gave me said as much. "Do you need help with the stairs?" She repeated.

My medication didn't seem to work so I was left to feel everything.

"Yeah," I admitted with a sigh.

She came to me. "Was that so hard?" Her eyes bore into mine.

"Yeah, a little bit."

She rolled her eyes and helped me.

LYDIA'S POV:

The worst of the worst wasn't over. The talk with Stiles actually made me feel better. Surprisingly, I feel like it made us a bit closer. There was an air of openness between us that had been missing for a while.

As we entered the kitchen we saw my mom passed out on the floor.

I went to her and placed her head in my lap.

"You didn't tell your mom about Allison?" Scott asked as he handed me a wet towel.

I huffed. "I hadn't gotten around to it. I didn't know you guys were coming over here."

She gasped awake a few moments later. She looked at Allison as she sat up. "I don't understand." She looked back at me. "How is this possible?"

"We don't know, mom. She got here yesterday." I helped her stand.

She looked to Chris for confirmation as if her eyes deceived her. "Alright, then." She held out her arms. "Welcome back, sweetie."

Allison cowered into her dad's side like yesterday.

"Mom, she doesn't remember anything at all." I tried to keep the sadness out of my voice and be supportive, but it seeped out anyway. My eyes went to Scott.

His jaw clenched as he looked towards the floor.

My hand grabbed his in support.

"Let's get started." Chris said. "I brought a few photo albums, some boxes are still in the car with her old stuff in it."

Scott pulled away and headed for the door. "I'll get it."

"I'll help." Malia went after him.

I looked to Stiles to see as he stared after the door. With a shake of my head, I went to Chris. "Where's everyone else?"

"Liam and Hayden wanted to stay with Mason for a bit. He's not doing too well."

How could I forget about Corey? Sadness ebbed in me.

I turned to Isaac. We hadn't really gotten a chance to catch up yesterday. It wasn't like we knew each other well or anything, but he was still part of the original pack.

He offered a weak grin as he held his arms around for a hug. "It's good to see you, Lydia."

I hugged him tight. "You, too, Isaac.' I tried to pull away, but he held on for longer.

"I'd ask how you're doing, but we kind of know." Stiles spoke.

I shot him a look, but he eyed Isaac.

"Stiles, nice to see you're still alive." Isaac stepped forward. "I would've thought you'd be in Eichen by now."

I gave Isaac a look. "Are you serious?"

Stiles pushed off the wall to stand in front of me. "What's that supposed to mean, Lahey?"

Oh no. How could I forget they never really liked each other? I guess like Liam, he felt threatened by Isaac's closeness with Scott.

My eyes went to Allison to see if she'd go to Isaac as I'd stay by Stiles. She didn't move, but she eyed him carefully.

"We don't have time for this guys." I put a hand on Stiles' chest. "We're here to focus on Allison remember."

He looked down at me with conflicted eyes.

The door opened and in walked Scott and Malia with boxes in their arms.

"Who's hungry?" My mom asked. "I'm making lunch."

Silence over took the room. None of us had much of an appetite. Who could blame us?

"I would love some, Natalie." Chris gave a soft smile. "Thanks."

She waved it off. "I'll make enough for everyone, just in case." She turned back to the kitchen.

We all traveled to the living room. I placed Stiles in the recliner so his leg could be elevated.

Malia helped Scott set up all of Allison's belongings while she sat in the middle of the couch. Chris sat beside her with Scott on her other side and Isaac on an arm rest. As for me, I didn't know what to do so I just stood.

"Did you have much luck yesterday?" I asked Chris.

He shook his head. "No such luck. She didn't even remember waking up or going to France. How she even got there is a mystery. She doesn't even remember me, but she knows I'm her dad for some reason. If we can just get her subconscious going I think we'd have a shot."

Scott put a random box in her lap. "Look through the box."

We turned a blind eye at his brashness because we wanted her to just remember, but it wouldn't work like that.

She hesitantly took the lid off and pulled out a few items; a sketchpad, a camera, and a portfolio of poems.

"Do you remember any of those?" Chris asked, his hand on her knee.

Her head shook as she looked through the pages of the sketchpad. She picked up another box with no progress. She looked to her dad with no sign of recognition and a head shake.

"Okay, let's move onto the pictures." I suggested as I sat on my legs by the table and handed her a few. I pointed to Scott on the couch. "You were dating Scott. You guys were sickeningly cute." I gave a small grin.

She strained her eyes as she looked between photo Scott and real Scott.

"Fine," I gave her another picture. "This is you guys at the skating rink and this is of all us at the ice skating rink." The panic I felt from this morning returned.

She looked at our group photo then picked up the one of them from the photo booth.

"This was when your dad didn't want you dating Scott. You would come over here and vent about how unfair your life was." I missed the times desperately. "I talked about how annoying his weird friend was."

I studied Stiles in the old photo. He was so goofy and desperate and kind back then. Now he was confident and brave and still kind, but less naïve. I didn't think ever in a million years that he'd come to mean as much to me as he did now. For me, it was more than appreciation. It was trust. Understanding. Friendship. Attraction. Hell, even passion.

When I looked back at him in the recliner I found him studying me intently. He winked.

My eyes rolled as I fought a grin. I looked back to Allison. "Please, tell me that some of this is making sense?"

She looked to the pictures on the table, then at Isaac, who hadn't said anything since earlier. "I remember you." She spoke in a small voice.

The whole room stilled at the unexpectant action. She actually talked! My panic calmed down a notch.

Isaac looked taken aback like the rest of us. He cleared his throat. "You do?"

She nodded. "A little bit."

My eyes went to Scott. How did he feel about all of this? He wore a stiff mask which scared the crap out of me because I wasn't sure if he was on the verge of crying or yelling. Neither were much like Scott. Honestly, Scott was dealing with a lot. Not knowing if Kira was coming back, Malia almost dying and Corey actually dying, and Allison coming back to life. What was he supposed to feel? How was he supposed to act? We didn't know the definition of normal.

Isaac turned to her. "What about me do you remember exactly?"

She looked to her dad then answered, "You…" She blew out a nervous breath. "You used to sneak into my room."

Chris and Scott stiffened then turned to him.

Isaac held up his hands in peace. "Not like that. She made it sound creepy."

"Knowing you it probably was." Stiles added.

My hand went to my mouth to cover my laugh.

"Oh, thanks, Stilinski." Isaac shot him a look. "We all know that Allison could kick my ass if I were ever any real threat to her, so let's just move on to something else." He averted his eyes and looked as if he wanted to block everything out.

This probably wasn't easy for him either. From what Kira told me Isaac had to watch Allison confess her undying love for Scott as she died in his arms. Tough break. As her best friend, I knew that Allison wasn't completely over Scott and vice versa, but I did know that she cared a lot about Isaac. Before I wasn't sure how much that love competed with Scott's, but now it was kind of clear. She didn't wake up with amnesia to remember Scott. She remembered Isaac.

This was the tricky part. I didn't know who I was rooting for. Did I want Kira to come back so they could be together? Yes! But Allison was back, but she liked Isaac. My head hurt.

"Scott," Malia called. "Can I talk to you for a second? In private?" She gestured towards the door.

He looked almost relieved for her interference. He gave a single nod then followed her outside after he patted me on the shoulder.

I looked back to Stiles to tease him, but halted when I saw his jaw clench after them. With jealousy coursing through me I turned back around. I picked up a picture of Jackson with his arm around me and another of Jordan and I kissing. "Do you remember Jackson or Jordan?"

She shook her head without a word.

My mouth balled up in misplaced anger. I wasn't mad at her, but why could she talk to scarf wearing Isaac and not _me_?

"For what it's worth, Jackson was kind of a douche." Stiles said.

I glanced at him. "He had his moments. Not all bad."

He gave a fake smile for my amusement. "But definitely better than Isaac."

My mouth dropped. How could he say that to Isaac after what he's been through?

"Stiles!" I went a made sure Isaac was okay.

He wrapped an arm around my waist as I stood next to him. "No, it's okay. I can handle it."

My head shook at Stiles.

He made a gasp that got caught in his throat.

I looked down to see Allison trying to hid a grin.

"Uh, I'm going to go check on the food." Chris walked to the kitchen, leaving his daughter alone with us without a second thought. Well, I guess there didn't need to be.

"Allison," Stiles called.

She looked at him with a tiny grin.

"I'm Stiles, Scott's best friend." He shot a faked smile at Isaac. "Since childhood. Isaac wasn't in the picture until after he turned, he's not very important in your origin story."

Her forehead creased. "Turned into what?"

I looked to Stiles and our eyes locked. Did she not know what she was? What her dad was? What we were? Dammit. The panic rose in me again, making me feel jittery. I recognized what this was, but I hoped it was anything but.

"Uh…" I started. "Chris?" I panicked.

He popped his head in the room. "Yeah?"

"You didn't tell her, did you?" Isaac asked with anger in his voice as he untangled from me. "She doesn't know about any of this? About any of us?"

Chris sagged and you could see all of this played out in his tired eyes and weathered face. "I didn't know how to ease her into it. I hoped she'd remember something more about you guys so I wouldn't have to tell her."

I looked down at her, she looked nervous again.

"Great." Isaac groaned. He leaned down so his hands were on his knees, then his eyes turned golden yellow, his face changed, and he let out a growl.

Her fist shot out and punched him in the face, then her leg swept out and took his feet from under him. He fell to the floor with a moan.

Stiles let out an exuberant laugh. "Oh, I missed you Allison."

I ignored them and looked to Chris. "Did you teach her that?"

His head shook. "Yes and no. Back when she started training Kate and I taught her, but when she came back I didn't teach her anything. It must be muscle memory."

Stiles was still laughing in the recliner. "Scott…"

My eyes rolled at him. "Okay, so that means she can still remember us right?"

"I'm not sure, Lydia. It's hard to say. When Deaton gets back to town we'll see what he knows."

Scott and Malia rushed in to see Isaac on the floor. "What happened?" He asked.

Stiles pointed to Isaac and couldn't get the words out. "Punched…"

I huffed. "Apparently, Allison didn't know about us being _us_ or who she was. Isaac decided to wolf out on her."

Malia scoffed as she headed to Allison's side. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

Allison didn't nod or shake her head, she just looked at each of us with a furrowed brow.

Isaac rose from the floor. "I'm sorry we couldn't be more accommodating, but now you know." He touched her arm.

She gasped loudly as her eyes widened and she stared into blank space.

Chris rushed forward so did Scott. "Are you okay?" They asked together.

Her head snapped back. She spoke but no words came out.

"Allison?" Scott asked when she didn't reply.

She exhaled heavily as her back hit the back of the couch. Her head shook while tears brimmed in her eyes.

"What is it honey?" Chris asked as he kneeled down in front of her. "What happened?"

A cough took her over for a few moments. When she regained the ability to talk, she said, "I saw something. A lot of people I don't know. They're coming here." She looked to me. "They're going to kills us." Her chin trembled.

All the uneasiness I felt since this morning flew out of me as I let out a banshee's scream. My eyes closed as I felt it go through me along with the fear that we would all soon be dead.

Thanks for reading yall! Please pretty please with a cherry on top take the time to review or PM me


	9. Poison & Wine

A/N: READ: In case some of you miss the FLASH FORWARD SIX MONTHS before Lydia's Pov this is me telling yall that the beginning of this chapter will be a FLASH FOWARD of SIX MONTHS to nothing will make sense at first glance. As the scene goes along you can kind of piece together what happened (and it's not going to make sense at first glance) and if not then ask me. I will continue the flash forward six months in some chapters, probably not all. Obviously, at some point the present and the flash foward will meet. I did the flash forward six months not to spoil the ending for yall, but to show where the story is heading and to take on the journey of how it gets there, and the progression of the story in the six months forward. If you don't end up liking this story after this chapter I'm sorry, but bare with me.

FLASH FOWARD SIX MONTHS

LYDIA'S POV:

I pulled my newly shorten hair into a top knot as I stared at myself in the mirror with a heavy heart. _You wanted this_ , I reminded myself. My head shook. No, I didn't want this. I didn't want it to be like this. Everything was screwed up. _Everything_.

A knock came from the motel door.

"Come in."

Isaac popped his head in first then walked until he stood in the doorway. "Hey," His eyes begged mine not to freak out.

My arms folded across my chest, but I was ready to kick ass if need be. "What are _you_ doing here?" I tried to hide the animosity in my voice, but I didn't fool anyone. I walked to the tiny closet.

He huffed. "I need your help, Lydia."

My fist balled by my side. "Why would I help you after what you did?" I pulled the briefcase of weapons from the top shelf. "Why would you turn to me of all people?"

"You're my last hope, that's why. I know you believe me."

I turned back to him with a Chinese ring dagger in hand. "What makes you think that?"

"Because you haven't kicked me out yet. I need your help if I'm going to make things right. Please?" His bluish green eyes begged mine. "If you don't do it for me do it for Allison. Do it for your mom. Do it for _Stiles_."

The anger burst in me as I rushed forward with the knife at his neck. "Don't talk about Stiles. You know _nothing_ about us."

He stared at me with saddened eyes like I was the one that needed a friend. "Oh yeah? Where is he now? When you needed him the most he disappeared, but it's not his fault. Is it?"

I pressed the knife deep into his skin to draw blood. My eyes blazed. "We should've left you with the Gahiji's! They had the right idea. You're nothing but an abomination. All of you."

He cracked a sardonic grin. "They brainwashed you, Lyds. This was all a part of their plan. Why don't you see that?"

"They didn't brainwash me, Isaac. They showed me the truth!"

"They lied to you." A familiar voice spoke.

I froze.

"They manipulated you, Lydia." It said again.

Isaac pulled back to let in the view of Stiles. They nodded at each other.

My grip loosened on the dagger as I gulped. "What are you doing here? I thought you left."

He took a step forward. "I came back for you."

My head shook. "Well, you wasted a trip. I don't need your help. I don't need saving. And I don't need _you._ "

His jaw clenched as he nodded. "I know, but Isaac wouldn't leave me alone until I came here."

My eyes narrowed. "You listened to Isaac after what he did? You're even dumber than I thought." I gave a cold sneer. "Well, you've seen me. Now you can both leave."

Stiles stood his ground. "I'm not leaving until we talk."

My heart dipped. I took him in after no contact for nearly a month. His dark hair was slicked back haphazardly like he stressfully ran his long fingers through it. He had dark circles under his eyes mirroring mine. He was so different, so untrusting. So not the same Stiles I fell in love with.

"You don't have a choice." I spoke with authority. "Either you leave willingly or I kick both of your asses out."

Isaac backed towards the door with his hands raised in surrender. "We'll leave, but this isn't over."

Stiles looked at me with foreign eyes. We shared a look. This wasn't where we wanted to be. This was not the future we pictured for us. But it was what we got. It was all so beautifully tragic.

He nodded once at me before he headed for the door.

I followed to lock the door behind him. They could come back later. I wouldn't be here. I'd be wherever I needed to go.

Stiles flashed around with an object in his hand. He aimed for my neck, but I saw the move coming thanks to my training with the Gahijis. I blocked his hand and knocked my hand into his chin. He stumbled back and dropped a white rectangular device. Isaac rushed forward with the same object in his hand and a determined look in his eyes.

I produced the dagger again and ducked his attempt at injection with a swift swipe into his stomach. He keeled over in pain. I grabbed my bag by the door and jumped over them. I looked back in time to make eye contact with Stiles. So much could be said with a look, but we didn't know what to say.

Something punctured my neck.

"Ah." I turned around with my hand to my neck to see Allison. Dizziness overtook me. "Why?"

Her coffee colored eyes looked at me with disappointment. "You know why. I'm sorry about this."

I pushed forward, but stumbled. Everything felt heavy.

She caught me. "You're going to be fine."

"No, please don't do this." I begged. My eyes fell shut as I drifted off.

A hard slap on the face woke me up. My eyes squeezed shut then focused on the blurry figures.

"Really, Malia?" Allison asked.

I struggled against the ropes that held me to a chair. Where was I?

Malia paced back and forth angrily, her long hair flowed behind her. "She deserves more than that after what she tried to do to us."

Scott grabbed her arm and stilled her with a look. "We're not here to get even. We're here to help her."

She pulled away with a sneer. "Look at her, Scott. She doesn't want to change. She likes being this way."

That was a laugh.

Scott squatted in front of me with a hardened face. His hair buzzed close to his head. The bond we once had was now gone. Much like everything else in my life. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused? How many people you've hurt?"

"Let me go!"

His head shook. "I can't do that, Lydia. We can't do that."

My mind went back to when I tried to kill him. I wanted to kill him now, but these damn ropes wouldn't budge. The need to get rid of them all burned in my veins. My heart quickened at the sight of him, of Malia, of Isaac. They needed to be exterminated.

I spat on Scott's face.

He frowned, then wiped it off. "We're going to help you."

"I don't need help. Why don't any of you get that?" I chuckled. "I'm going to get out of here and when I do all of you will regret it."

He nodded then rose.

Allison came to take his place. She looked on the verge of tears and I knew she didn't cry often. "We know you're sick and that you don't mean any of this. We're going to help you. It'll be fine." She gave a reassuring smile. "Whatever the Gahiji's did to you we'll fix it! We know you don't want to live like this." Allison pleaded.

I chuckled. "You all think you know me, but you haven't gotten a clue of what I'm

capable of."

She grabbed my shoulder and immediately gasped, the tall tell sign of her having a premonition. She spoke the ancient tongue as she looked at the ceiling. She moved her hand to grasp my forehead. This time I saw what she saw. I felt what she felt.

No! Not Scott's mom! She was innocent, she had nothing to do with this!  
Allison fell back, she breathed heavily. As did I.

My eyes went to Scott and they burned with hatred, but I felt sorrow for his soon to be dead mother. I knew how it felt.

"You saw that?"

I looked at her with a nod.

A glimmer of hope shined in her eyes. "Then help us." She begged. "You don't have to sit by and let this happen. We help you and you help us."

My head shook.

"Lydia," Stiles stepped forward. "You're not going anywhere until we fix you." He bent in front of me. "So we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way."

We stared at each other for a few moments until I broke our gaze.

I relaxed in the chair and put on a nonchalant smirk. "What did you guys think was going to happen?" I eyed each of them. "That you'd bring me here and I'd crack when you got Allison to force a vision on me? That I'd crack when you brought Stiles back? Well, it's not going to work. I don't care about any of you. As far as I'm concerned you're all dead to me!" I yelled. Blood trickled down my hands as my nails digged into the ropes.

"It wasn't our fault!" Stiles yelled back.

"It might as well have been!" The ropes fell, letting me rise with a swift kick to Stiles' face.

He fell the floor, shocked.

Allison made sure he was okay.

I headed for Scott with a purpose.

"Now!" He demanded.

"Lydia, stop this very instant." A voice cut threw me.

I snapped around to see my dad. He stood with his arms raised in surrender and worried eyes.

Unwanted tears sprung to my eyes, but I blinked them away. "What are you doing here?"

He took a step forward. "I'm here to save you, sweetie. And I'm not leaving until I do."

A painful jolt of electricity coursed through me and brought me to knees. I writhed on the floor in agony. "You're with them? After what they did to mom?" I cried.

He shook his head, his eyes filled with sorrow. "You're not well, sweetie. These hunter guys did something to you. Your friends and I are going to fix it."

I tried to stand, but was zapped with another round that knocked me out.

PRESENT:

I collapsed onto the floor.

"Lydia," My mom called out.

Scott came by my side. "Are you okay?"

My head shook as I gasped for air. "There's more of them. They're coming to kill us. We have to leave." My eyes went to Stiles.

He looked as worried as I felt. He was probably the weakest one here because of his leg. If we wanted all of us to make it out alive we had to leave.

"We can't just leave." Malia protested. "We can't leave this town unprotected. Besides, what if they're already here? We fight."

Chris stood. "We protect those who can not protect themselves." He looked down at Allison.

Her forehead creased.

The scream had taken a lot out of me and all I wanted to do was lay down, but this was life and death.

"And what about the ones of us that need protecting? What happens when the Gahiji's get here and we can't beat them?" I looked at each of them. "What happens if another one of us dies?"

They all had to think about that.

My mom stepped forward. "Since when do you guys give up? You're the ones that fight for this town. You're the one that save us without our knowledge. You're the good guys and if you run now you'll be the cowards that let Beacon Hills ruin the rest of the world."

With that hung in the air we all had a decision to make. Would we run and save our asses or would we stand our ground and run the risk of losing someone else?

Scott looked to Chris and Isaac. "I'll understand if you guys want to leave. This isn't your fight."

"Yes it is." Chris replied.

Isaac nodded. "We're not leaving until these sons of bitches are taken care of."

With a quick glance at my mother and Stiles I huffed. "Fine, but we all need to be ready for them when they come. We all need weapons."

Chris grinned, which was rare. "What a coincidence? I know just the person." He joked at an attempt to lighten the mood, which failed. He sighed. "I have enough in my truck. I'll be right back." He walked to the door.

Allison watched him leave.

"Are you okay?" Stiles asked.

I looked up to see that he now stood beside me. I nodded.

The rest of the day Chris taught us some defense moves in my backyard. We all switched turns being on watch. It was eerie how quiet Beacon Hills seemed all of a sudden. My panic from earlier never really left me. Although, it was nice seeing Allison try a few moves out. Every time I grinned at her she would look down. With time I hoped she and I would become friends again.

When it was time to say goodbyes for the night I hugged Scott and Malia the tightest. There would never come a time where we weren't family, where we weren't pack. And if there did then I didn't want to be alive. We had all been through so much together, bonded by tragedy.

Stiles faced me while everyone shuffled out the door. "Are you still up for taking me to my appointment tomorrow?"

I completely forgot about that, but I nodded. "What time?"

"Ten thirty."

"Sure." I blew out a breath. "I'll pick you up around nine-thirty. We can get breakfast beforehand."

He gave a weak grin. "Sure." He looked at me with those intrusive eyes and I was afraid of what he saw. "Call me if you need anything."

I grinned with a nod.

"Goodnight." He grinned back.

"Goodnight."

He walked out of the door.

My mom peeped her head around the corner with a huge grin.

"Oh, God. What?" I walked up the stairs.

She followed. "You and Stiles. I like that young man, haven't I always told you that?"

I turned around on the stairs. "No, you haven't. Mom, you used to hate him." I gave a half grin at the memory. "You thought he was nuisance."

She waved it off. "Oh, please. I just didn't understand him was all. Now he's proved himself enough for me to believe he's good enough for my daughter." She smoothed my hair down on the sides. "I was never really fond of that Jackson or Jordan. They weren't right for you, honey. But Stiles…is." She smiled.

My face flushed. I squeezed my eyes shut. "Mom." I complained. "I don't want to talk about my love life with you." I started up the stairs again, only to turn around. "Okay, I do. I told him how I felt. Well, he dragged it out of me, but we still came to a nice conclusive agreement. We work better as just friends."

Her head shook. "It's okay to be scared, Lydia." She grabbed my hand. "Just don't let that fear stop you from being happy. And from what I can tell, Stiles makes you happier than anyone else on the planet."

I nodded. "You're right, but it's not the right time for us. We just got Allison back and the Gahiji's are after us." I gave a weak grin. "It's senior year, mom. We're not going to all stay together forever. Life doesn't work that way. And I would be naïve to think that Stiles and I would have a happily ever after in Beacon Hills." I squeezed her hand then pulled away. "I'm going to take a shower. Love you, mom."

"Okay. Love you, sweetie."

Today seemed to be the worst one yet. None of us knew what the future held, not even me. That's what scared me.

My shower was well needed. I imagined that I smelled of sweat from training in California weather. I shampooed my hair last, it was always my favorite part of my showers. My strawberry shampoo smelled so good, I knew that Stiles loved it because he always stiffened when I would fling it over my shoulder as I walked past him or when I'd stand too close after a fresh shower.

I hoped that in ten years when this was all over and we were all still alive that we'd look back on these times as a fond memory while we talked about our grown up lives. What's a little wishful thinking?

I toweled my naked body off as I entered my room. The last person I expected to see was Stiles laying on my bed. I halted with a gasp.

He looked at me with wide eyes. "Holy shit, Lyds."

Getting some sense back into me, I quickly wrapped the towel around my body. "What are you doing in here? I thought you went home?" My whole body flushed.

He shrugged as he sat up. "I came back, didn't want to go home. You were here."

"Well…" Damn. That was a sweet ass response, it was hard to be mad right now. "You could've told me you were in here so I wouldn't have come out fully naked."

He winked. "What fun would that be? Besides, I've already seen you naked before. It was just as great then as it is now. Have you been doing squats?" He inquired.

I let out an incredulous breath. "When have you seen me naked before?" Does my mom know he's in here? She'd probably be lighting candles if she did.

"Throw back to when Peter bite you and you escaped from the hospital. If I had known you could get out through the window I would've slept in your room instead of out in the hall." He pursed his lips in thought.

My brow knitted together. "You were there? I didn't see you."

"Well, your mom didn't want anyone but family visiting you, so I kind of just stayed in the lobby on the chairs. But to answer your question, we looked for you and when you came out of the woods all confused you were very naked." He gave a tiny grin at the memory.

That was so long ago and then again it wasn't. I never knew he was there for me for any of that. Honestly, those early memories of us were bad and I didn't like to dwell on them too much.

"Well," I cleared my throat. "I shave now."

"I see."

My eyes rolled as I rifled through my drawers for sleep wear. Deciding it really didn't matter at this point, I dropped the towel. "Since you're so cocky, Stilinski, I think it's only fair you show me yours." I slid on a pair of cotton shorts.

He shook his head. "You know, I didn't really come here for all that, so why don't you put a shirt on and come cuddle with me?"

I pulled a tank top over my head as I walked towards him. "For people that don't want to jeopardize their friendship, we seem to jeopardize it a lot." I climbed into bed next to him.

He smiled. "You're right. We'll start not jeopardizing it tomorrow." He grabbed my hand and interlaced our fingers.

We gazed at each other.

"Do you think we're making a mistake?" I whispered. "By staying here?"

He bit down on his bottom lip then shook his head. "I hope not. We've made it this far, so what's one more big bad before we graduate?"

"Not all of us have made it though."

He nodded. "We got Allison back. That counts for something, doesn't it?"

"But we didn't get Allison back." I disagreed. "We got someone else back, someone that looks like Allison."

"It's Allison, we just have to get her to remember that. She did okay at practice today. And she put Isaac on his ass." He grinned. "I'll never forget that."

I brought the covers over us. "Either way, if things do go bad then you have to leave. You, Mason, and my mom."

He shook his head. "Lydia, no. I won't leave you behind, not if there's bad people here that want to hurt you."

I gave him a stern look. "Who are you going to fight on one leg, Stiles? My mom won't kill anyone if she has to. And poor Mason is still in shock over Corey."

"Then they'll go, but I can't just-"

My finger pressed to his lips. "You have to. I can't lose you again."

His forehead creased. "When did you lose me a first time?"

"With the Nogitsune. You were completely gone. I won't let that happen again, so promise me that you'll run." When he didn't say anything, I pinched his shoulder. "Promise me."

"Ow. Fine, I promise."

I relaxed for the first time today.

"But you have to promise me something in return," He started with a hopeful grin. "You're going on a date with me."

I started to pull away, but he kept his hold tight. "Stiles, I thought we agreed-"

"When this is all over with," He interrupted. "After we graduate." He moved our joined hands to his mouth and planted a kiss on my palm with his whisky eyes locked on mine. "I want to take you on a date, Lyds."

My heart jumped around in my chest. Was the room spinning? I blinked away the haziness a few times then cleared my throat.

He looked at me with a smug smirk. "That's a yes I take it?"

"Oh, shut up." My eyes rolled, but I couldn't help the smile on my face. "Yes, I'll go on a date with you when this is all over with, provided you keep your promise. I don't want any noble hero crap out of you, Stilinski. Got it?"

He nodded. "Fine." A hint of amusement on his lips.

"Good. Now go to sleep." I turned so that I was on my back.

He did the same, our hands still together. "Not likely after seeing you all naked and ready for me." He said dryly.

I really tried to contain a laugh as to not tip off my mom that Stiles was in here, but I couldn't help it. A laugh broke out of me just before he started grinning. It seemed to go on forever until we calmed down.

"Oh, I hate you." I whispered, my eyes on the ceiling.

He sighed. "In that case, I hate you, too."

A/N: I know the flash forward is like WTF HAPPENED haha. I thought it would be a great story to see everyone a little different in six months. That's life right? Please please please let me know what yall think. Even if you don't like it please just tell me why in specific detail. There's nothing more frustrating than people that just say they hate your story without telling you why. As a writer, I'd love to know exactly what you like and dislike.


	10. The Wreck

The song for this chapter is Delta Spirit – The Wreck

MALIA'S POV:

Scott and I walked until we were a few houses away, still in hearing range if anything went wrong, but far enough away for privacy. I could tell him being in there with Allison wasn't a good idea. He'd never hurt her, but she was hurting him. Clearly, he wasn't over her. Her remembering Isaac, but not him. Hell, I'd be hurt, too. She was his first love, his first everything. Talk about a punch in the gut.

"You want to talk about it?" I nudged his shoulder with mine.

His head shook.

"Okay," I looked ahead. "Do you want to punch something? I'll let you punch me and I won't hit you back. Promise." I gave him a hopeful look.

He looked down at me with a furrowed brow. "I'm not going to hurt you, Malia."

"Well, what do you want to do?"

He looked to the ground and gulped. "I want to talk to Kira. I want to hold her one last time."

My heart hurt for him. I shoved my hands into my jean shorts.

"Do you really think she's not coming back? I mean, she wouldn't just leave you waiting around for her. She has to come back or reach out."

"Kira doesn't have to do anything." His voice filled with an anger I'd rarely seen from Scott.

My hand pulled his arm to a stop as we stood in the street. "Wait, are you mad at her?" I hit his shoulder. "You just said you missed her. And this is her personal journey, she needs this."

His sad brown eyes averted from mine. "Why'd you bring me out here? I was fine in there."

I caught his eyes. "You're lying, Scott. Don't forget I know you."

We spent a lot of time together, all of us, to not know everything about each other. Being that Scott was the Alpha I relied on him a little more than the others with the big things in my life.

His jaw hardened, he searched my face. "I never said you didn't." He sighed. "I just don't want to talk about this. It's too weird."

"Scott, come on. It's me."

His hand rested on my shoulder. "I know it's you, but I can't talk about this with you. It's too confusing."

What did that mean?

My head shook. "Trying not to take offense here."

He gave a quarter of a grin. "Fine, with Allison being back it's brought back some old feelings and with Kira gone I'm not so sure how I feel anymore."

I shrugged. "Was that so hard?" I punched his shoulder.

"What do you think I should do?" He ignored my question. "You heard Allison. She remembers Isaac and not me. That's a sign right?"

Would I take it as a sign? Yes. Should Scott?

"I don't know, Scott. As lame as it sounds only you'll know what's right for you. Besides, what if Allison does get her memories back? What if she does chose you? And what if Kira comes back?"

He backed away with the thought, his hand ran down in his face. "How about we talk about you? Didn't I say I'd help you plan your future?"

My lips pursed. "Yeah, you did. But we're not talking about me, we're talking about you."

He pulled me close with his arm draped over my shoulder, his mood lightened. "No. No, we're talking about you." We slowly started back to Lydia's house. "Where do you picture yourself in ten years?"

I was glad for his sudden mood change, but was still worried about him. I blew out a heavy sigh. "I don't know. Still hanging out with you guys, still hanging out with you, I guess."

He grinned. "What do you want out of life?"

I shrugged. "Happiness. That's my only requirement."

"How do you feel about working a Vet?"

My eyes widened. "You mean with you and Deaton? Do you think he'd really hire me?" Excitement filled me. I wasn't sure why, I never expressed interest in working there before, but it could be cool. Plus, I'd get to spend time with Scott and pet some animals.

He laughed at my happiness. "I'm sure Deaton wouldn't mind. We could use an extra hand around there."

With a big grin plastered on my face I danced around the street, really getting in some good moves. "You want some of this?" I beckoned him to the dance floor. "Don't be scared Scottie."

"You don't want that, trust me." He stood his ground, his thumbs hanging from his jean loops. It was a good look for him.

My eyes rolled. "Is the big Alpha scared?"

He tried to hide his smile as he moved towards me. "Okay, you asked for it," He kicked his leg out like Michael Jackson.

I almost died of laughter.

He hit me with some moves I've never seen before.

"Alright." I grinned. "You've got moves. I'll give you that."

"Oh, you have no idea, Lia."

My heart dipped as I pretended I didn't hear him giving me a nickname. No one's ever given me a nickname before. Not even Stiles. I liked it.

He stopped dancing as he looked at me, like he knew what I was thinking.

"Scott!" We heard Stiles say from the house.

It didn't sound like he was worried, but just in case we rushed over.

We arrived to find Isaac on the floor with Stiles laughing at him.

The rest of the evening went kind of as planned, save for Allison having like a psychic vision or whatever. Chris trained us and gave us weapons. I eyed the crossbow, but Allison grabbed it first. There was a sword that caught my eye, but I wasn't sure if I'd be good at it, if it was the right fit for me. It was definitely heavier than I thought it was. How did Kira handle this thing regularly?

Scott handed me the Katana with a supportive look. "Let's see what you got."

I handled it as best as I could, trying my best to imitate Kira, but I felt like I looked like an idiot and an imposter. Lydia sent me an encouraging smile, then she turned back to drooling over Stiles as he chatted with her mom.

Chris watched me as I stabbed the sword forward. My mind went back to when the Gahiji stabbed me, then I instantly dropped the weapon.

"Malia, are you alright?" He asked.

I quickly picked up the sword, determined to not let this affect me. I thought about that night over and over a thousand times. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He glanced back at Allison for a second. "It's okay if you're trying to work through something, but you can't let it take over. Clear your mind for five minutes."

Shame filled me that I was so transparent.

"I don't need a break." My jaw clenched.

He nodded. "You have to learn the difference between what you need and what's best for you."

"I said I didn't need a break." My voice rose.

Everyone looked at us.

He nodded again. "Okay." He backed off and moved onto someone else.

I could feel Scott's eyes on me, wondering what happened, but I couldn't look at the Alpha and let him see shame in my eyes. I failed everyone that night. If I hadn't been so wrapped up in turning Isaac human, then I would've heard the Gahiji's coming and Corey wouldn't have died.

After we all had dinner, I was the first to leave. There were too many people there. I loved the pack, but sometimes I craved time by myself. I'd grown so used to it as a coyote. Now it was almost impossible to be alone. Except in my hideout. I often went back to my cave. Besides Scott and Stiles, Theo was the only other person that had been in here. I foolishly let Theo Raeken get to me. When he showed his true colors anything I felt for him crumbled.

I let out a bitter laugh as I slid down to the damp ground. This was home, no matter where I went this was always home. Despite all the bad events centered around my cave I still came here when everything became too much, which was often. No one knew about it.

Needing to clear my head, I laid my forehead on my propped up knees. If I was being honest, I was scared that the pack wouldn't want me after we graduated. Everyone would be in different directions. What would they need with Malia for? What would Scott need me for? I tried to kill my mom. How did he even look at me? Stiles killed Donavon on accident and they had a huge falling out. So what was so special about me? Why did he give me a break?

If I didn't figure out my future soon I'd go crazy. My dad would miss me, but it wasn't like we had the best relationship. I couldn't exactly tell him about all of this. He tried to kill me when I was the coyote, just like my mom. I didn't blame Stiles for leaving me, it would've happened sooner or later. We were too different.

Unwanted tears filled my eyes. Nobody wanted me. There it was. My biggest fear. Soon my face was slick with tears as I shook.

Warm arms pulled me close until I was sitting on a lap. When I smelled Scott's scent I relaxed and I rested my head on his broad chest. As if his presence amplified my feelings, I cried harder in his arms.

"You're going to be okay, Lia. I'll make sure of it."

He let me sob on him without protest. I hate that he had to see me like this, but I didn't want him to go. A part of me was glad that he was here. I could tell that he didn't know what was going on with me lately and vice versa. So this was nice.

He rubbed my back, creating a tingly warmth throughout my body. I nestled my head on his shoulder now as my breathing calmed down. His presence was actually relaxing me more than I thought it would.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

With a huff, I said, "I'm scared."

"Of the Gahiji's?"

My head shook. "Of senior year ending. I don't know what to do with my life. You probably don't want to hear this. I know you have it all figured out. You're Scott McCall, you have everything figured out."

"Have you seen my life, Lia? I have nothing figured out."

"Well, besides that your life is perfect compared to mine."

"What are you afraid of right now?" He asked softly.

Currently, other than becoming too comfortable in this pair of arms, a lot of things. I moved out of his lap and wiped my face off. I turned to find him watching me carefully.  
"What? Is there a bugger on my face?"

He grinned. "Actually, yes." He wiped it off with his sleeve, then wiped his sleeve on the wall with a yuck face.

"Gross." I laughed.

He looked at me with those puppy dog eyes and my heart just about melted. I really hoped Kira came back. He deserved to be happy more than anyone. He bore the responsibility of all of our lives, of all of Beacon Hills. I didn't know how he did it. "Do you feel better?"

I nodded. "Thanks. How'd you know I'd be here?"  
He looked a bit embarrassed. "Uh, I followed you."

Oh.

I gave a grateful grin. "Well, if you hadn't I'd probably still be crying."

"Why were you crying?" He didn't miss a beat.

I huffed. "Everything just piled up on me. A lot happened in the last few months and I haven't really talked to anyone about it." I tucked my long hair behind my ear.

He grabbed my other hand. "Why didn't you talk to me?"

I shrugged as I met his eyes. "I don't know. I guess, I hoped that if I didn't talk about it that it didn't matter."

"Does Stiles know about this?"

I gave him a look. "Stiles? We were never really friends to begin with. Not like him and Lydia."

His forehead creased. "So you think that means you can't talk to him? You have to know he's worried about you. We all are."

I really didn't want to admit this, but bottling things up hadn't work so far. I turned my body to him and leaned my head on the wall of the cave, careful not to come into contact with the bugger. "Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Lydia. I just get tired of competing with her for Stiles' attention and affection." I gave a wry smile. "We all know it's not a competition. She wins. And there was no more room for me."

He looked as if he hadn't even thought of that as he turned to face me, his head on the wall, too. "I'm sure that's not true. Honestly, I don't think Stiles even realizes what he's done. When it comes to Lydia everything else just goes over his head. But I'll talk to him about it."

My hand hit his shoulder. "Don't, you idiot." I cracked a grin at him. "I guess, you'll do instead."

He held a hand to his chest in mock heartache. "You really know to break a guy's heart."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Sadly, I don't think my love life will be exciting for some time."

His brow rose. "What about Braeden?"

I stilled. "What about her?"

"Come on, I have eyes. You two are a good pair."

"What?" I laughed. "Me and Braeden?"

He nodded with a grin. "Yeah."

I didn't really know what to say about that. I mean, we had grown closer because of her helping me with The Desert Wolf and sure she was attractive, but I didn't think we would ever go beyond friendship.

"So maybe hope's not lost for you."

My head shook. "I don't think that's an option. Even if you're right, she's still hung up on Derek. I think that's the business she had to attend to out of town. If it is then good for her. I don't want to stand in the way of anybody being together. Besides, I'm not ready to be with anybody yet."

He nodded. "How about we both just take a break from the dating world together and see where that gets us?"

I held my hand out to shake on it. "Deal."

His strong hand wrapped around mine. "Deal."

A/N: How do you guys feel about Scalia's friendship? I actually really ship Shelley and Tyler in real life. I saw a post on Instagram that someone thought Tyler was in love with Shelley and I watched some interviews and was like maybe he is haha. So I converted that onto Scalia. I know it won't ever happen on the show, but I like their friendship so much on the show. It's not obvious like Stydia, but I think if given the right circumstances Scalia could happen as a slow burn on the show, but we obviously don't have that kind of screen time left! Anyways, sorry for the short chapter. Please take the time to leave a comment/review Thanks for reading yall!


	11. Close

The song for this chapter is Nick Jonas – Close

Apologies for the short chapter. My final exams are coming up so I have to prepare for them…who am I kidding. I'm watching The 100 with my sister!

SCOTT'S POV:

The first day of school was today. So much had changed since last semester. Kira wasn't with us. Corey was dead. Mason had to tell his parents with the help of Argent. Allison and Isaac were back and that was just jarring that I didn't know how to deal with it.

On my way out the door I kissed my mom goodbye.

"Goodbye, sweetie." She called after me.

This would be one hell of a day. I was glad Lydia said she'd pick up Stiles so his Dad wouldn't have to worry about it. I wasn't sure if Mason would come today, but I hoped he did.

When I pulled up to the parking lot on my bike I saw Lydia's care a few spots down. A second later, Malia parked her SUV beside me. I grinned as I threw my leg over my bike.

"Hey," I greeted while I checked my phone.

She hopped out of the car with a smirk and I froze. She had on a short skirt and a black shirt that clung to her frame with a pair of black ankle boots that made her tan legs go on for days. Gone were her long brown locks replaced by bleached blonde hair in a high bun. She smiled. She never really wore makeup like ever and now she had that smoky eye thing girls loved so much and some nude lip stick. She wore earrings. She never wore jewelry. I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

"Woah." I said under my breath.

"I know right." She placed her hand on my shoulder.

Was she wearing perfume?

"Lydia helped me." She turned back to lock her car with the beep beep, her hand had slid to my stomach until she turned back and removed it. "I told her I wanted something different. What do you think?"

Raisins. Old people. Roaches. The Darach.

"Scott?" She asked after I didn't say anything.

"Well, it's different." I started for school.

She followed behind. "That's all I get? Lydia said I looked hot. Do I not look hot?" She playfully hit my shoulder.

Crap. She did.

I gave a friendly grin. "You look nice, Lia." My jaw clenched as I averted my eyes from hers.

"Gee, thanks for the confidence boost."

My eyes spotted Stiles and Lydia by their lockers as they chatted.

"No, I don't think you have anything to worry about." Lydia teased Stiles over something I hadn't heard.

He gave a tight look as he turned in our direction. "Hey, g-" He tapered off when took in Malia and I couldn't blame him.

I noticed other guys checking her out.

Lydia beamed. "Wow, I did amazing." She flipped her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder. "You'll catch the eye of some hottie today, I guarantee it."

"We'll see about that." Malia elbowed my side with a chuckle.

I cleared my throat, then looked to Stiles. He still ogled Malia.

Lydia smacked the back of his head with a roll of her eyes.

"I have to go to the counseling office before class starts." She playfully pushed Stiles' shoulder before she headed down the hall.

Instead of watching her leave I started to the bathroom. "I'll see you guys at lunch."

"Later." Stiles said.

"Bye." Lydia called.

This wasn't a big deal. I found Malia attractive. So what? It's wasn't like I planned on asking her out or anything. But I did need her to cover up more if I had any hope of controlling myself. I hoped I wouldn't have to struggle this hard to compose myself around her going forward. It didn't help the whole friends thing.

Once I was able to get myself together I walked out of the bathroom and right into Rebecca Harlowe. I think the last time I saw her was when Allison first started school, which was a long time ago. Her and Stiles chatted about popular people being beautiful while I gazed at Allison. That was before I even knew I was a Werewolf.

She stumbled back, but I caught her.

"Woah, are you okay?" I asked her with an apologetic grin.

"Yeah," She gave an awkward laugh. "Scott," Her brown eyes widened as she took me in. "Hey, it's been like two years." She pulled away with narrowed eyes and stepped around me.

I grabbed her shoulder. "Harley," I stood in front of her. "Did I do something to make you upset?"

"Nothing."

I gave her a look. "Rebecca, how long have we been friends? Tell me what I did." I silently begged.

"Oh, I don't know." She popped her hip out. "Maybe it has something to do with you and Stiles ditching me as a friend. Or maybe it has something to do with you never returning my calls or texts."

Shit. I thought back to all the times I told her we'd hang out or when I forgot to get back to her, but it was never the right time. With us it was never the right time.

I nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry. A lot has happened in the last two years. We never meant to drop you as a friend. Other things just got in the way." She looked almost ready to forgive me, but didn't waver. "How about you sit with us at lunch today? It'll be fun. We can catch up."

She pursed her full lips. "I'll think about it."

I grinned. "Okay. Hopefully, I'll see you there."

By third period I hadn't seen Malia in two of our classes which worried me enough to text her.

Me: Are you still alive?

Malia: Worried about me?

I rolled my eyes with a half grin.

Me: Kist making sure you're okay. See you at lunch.

Malia: Save me a seat, McCall.

I grinned.

Me: Always.

"Mr. McCall," My Spanish teacher called. "Do I need to confiscate your phone until the end of the day?"

I looked up to see everyone in class looking at me. I cleared my throat. "Los siento." I pocketed my phone.

The class laughed.

She gave me a disappointed look. "Don't let it happen again, Scott."

I gave a tight nod.

On my way to lunch I called Isaac to see how things were progressing with Allison. He said that she was bit less skittish, but she hadn't remembered anything else. Funny how she was still wary of us, but she managed to pick up a crossbow and put Isaac on his ass when she felt threatened. That was my girl. Well, no it wasn't. But that was okay.

"Well," Isaac said. "We're about to eat lunch. I'll call you later with updates." He paused. "Scott?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for letting me stay with you. I know this an awkward situation. I'm sorry about all of this."

I mentally waved it off. "No, it's fine. I'm glad you're back."

"Me, too." He sounded relieved. "Okay, see you." He hung up.

With my lunch in hand I went outside to our table. Lydia sat by Stiles' side, they chatted amongst themselves.

I took a swig of water and let my eyes wander, hoping that Harley would show. I really did feel bad about flaking on our friendship. Hayden plopped down next to me with a nervous grin.

"Hey," She bit into an apple, then looked at Stiles and Lydia.

"Hey, where's Liam?"

"Mason's. His parents didn't make him come today. If he did I'd be worried."

I nodded. "He's not doing too good. I'm going over there after school."

"Me, too." She cleared her throat. "Scott, the other day with Liam," She huffed. "He didn't mean what he said in the woods. He was just scared."

I waved it off. "It's not a big deal."

She paused. "Oh."

"What?"

Her shoulders shrugged. "I just thought you'd be mad."

"No, I understand." I bit into my sandwich and swallowed before I said, "The truth is we're all confused and worried. I can't blame him for doing what he thought was best for you guys. But we still need to talk."

She gave me a sad half grin as her eyes teared up.

I pulled her close for a one arm hug. "We'll figure this out. We always do."

She laid her head on my shoulder and sighed. "I hope you're right. It would really suck if we weren't all together moving forward."

"Hey, guys." Malia rushed to the table with a huge grin on her face. "Guess who just took an aptitude test?" She sat across from me and next to Stiles. "I never thought I'd finish."

My brow furrowed. I thought I was helping her out with her future, not some test.

"Scott, what's wrong? You look like I stepped on your dog."

Stiles leaned forward. "He doesn't have a dog."

She gave him a pointed look and an arched brow. "I know, Stiles."

Lydia narrowed her eyes at me, but I pretended not to notice.

"What were your results?"

"I find out after lunch."

Confusion passed over Lydia's face. "You took a paper test? They usually do it by computer now."

Malia nodded. "Well, it was on the computer, but I wasn't ready to see the results, they said they'd print them out for me for later." Her brown eyes met mind. "Can you go with me after lunch?"

Relief washed over me. "You really want me to go with you?"

She nodded. "Of course."

I suddenly felt like a proud dad. No, proud brother. No, proud friend. It would be weird to say that I thought of Malia as a sister after this morning. If you asked me yesterday I would've said yes, that she was like a sister. But it wasn't like anything would ever happen between us. We were friends. I liked our friendship. It was something I never had with Allison and Kira, or even Lydia. Now, Lydia was my sister. That wouldn't ever change.

"So, you'll go with me?" Malia asked with nervous eyes.

I nodded. "Sure."

Confusion crossed her face, but she didn't say anything further.

"Well, who wants chocolate cake?" Hayden asked as she rose.

Stiles perked up. "I'll take some."

"Really, fatty?" Lydia teased.

He suddenly looked self-conscious, then he turned to me. "I'm not fat, Scott. Am I?"

Those two made me feel better.

I put on a grin. "No, just big-boned."

He froze.

Hayden laughed. "Don't worry, Stiles. I like your curves."

Lydia patted his cheek with a sympathetic look. "We'll get you back into shape, Stilinski."

He pulled away from her touch with a scowl. "Screw you guys."

Laughter went around the table, everyone except Malia. I searched her face for what was wrong, but couldn't pinpoint it.

The rest of lunch passed with chatter. We were all going to Masons' again. He wasn't doing too well. There was no great way to handle the love your life dying. I knew from experience.

When the bell rung we rose for our next few classes.

Lydia helped Stiles up with admiration in her eyes.

I turned around to see another person I thought was out of my life for good.

He looked at Lydia was far away eyes.

She looked up and her grin feel away as she stilled. "Jackson?"

A loud curse came from Stiles.

"Stilinski, detention!" Coach yelled from somewhere nearby.

Lydia gulped as Jackson walked toward her.

A/N: Thanks for reading guys. Let me know how you're liking it so far. Next chapter I promise WILL BE STYDIA I just like switching up the pov's. If you wouldn't mind leaving a comment/review or PMing me I would love any feedback. I love all reviews, but if you just say please update it doesn't help me know what you like or what you didn't like and what I did wrong. I'm an English major so this is kind of important to me lol thanks yall!


	12. Continuing

What are yall thinking of the fic so far? I'm not getting a lot of feedback to let me know if yall like it or not, so I might stop writing this and take a break for a while or start a Scalia fic. I read other fics and see they get tons of reviews so I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but it's a debbie downer because this is what I want to do with my career and not getting feeback doesn't scream I like this. So let me know what you think guys or not...


	13. Jealous

Hey guys! So I've been really trying to come up with a solution here for what's going on. I got a message from a reader and apologies I haven't gotten back to you yet, but I really appreciate all the support yall are giving me! A few people suggested that people are losing interest because they came here for Stydia and I'm writing Scott and Malia pov's. That's just how I write all my fics guys, I don't stick to just two characters. That gets boring for me. It hasn't been a problem in the past so I think it'll be a problem moving forward. BUT…I propose this…If I keep this strictly a Stydia fic and move the Scalia over to a new fic, but keep it the same premise as this fic would you guys read it? I don't know. It's not set in stone. I'm trying to think of what's best for this fic. The only problem with moving Scalia to a new fic is that I tend to write pov's for most of the characters in my fics, like usually all of them eventually to broaden the story. I'm rambling at this point. Anyway, let me know what yall think about the moving Scalia to a different fic Thanks for the support!

The song for this chapter is Labrinth - Jealous

LYDIA'S POV:

When I saw him I couldn't breathe. It was like freshman year again. It wasn't like I thought about Jackson every day, but I spent a good chunk of time wondering if we had a healthier relationship what my life would've been like, what our life together would've been like.  
He looked different, but the same. There was something in his eyes that made him look older.

Well, I guess he was.

I heard Stiles swear behind me and Coach yelling at him.

"Lydia."

I stepped forward until I was in his arms. How long had it been? Two years? Two years without seeing my childhood best friend.

"It's good to see you." I muttered into his ear as he picked me up.

"Oh, you have no idea."  
I could tell he grinned from his voice.

When he put me down he had a huge grin on his face and it was easy to remember why I could never resist him. But those days were over.

"Jackson, what are you doing here? I thought you were in London."

He nodded. "I was-"

"Jackson!" Coach yelled at him. "When the hell did you get back? Have you been here this whole time? Whatever. Get to class!" He moved to head back inside. "See you at detention, Stilinski!" He disappeared.

I turned to look at the momentarily forgotten Stiles. His jaw clenched and he had a worried look in his eyes. I tried to convey that he didn't need to be worried with my eyes, but I wasn't sure how that came across. He used his crutch to hobble away without another glance my way. Scott went after him and Malia went after him.

"What's wrong with Stiles?" Jackson asked.

I shrugged. "Not sure." I lied.

"Do you want to skip the rest of your classes and catch up? Or I can just wait until you get out of school?"

How would that look to Stiles? Wait, what was I talking about? Stiles and I weren't together. He didn't have a say in who I hung out with and even if we were together he wouldn't have a say then. The responsible thing would be to go back to class, but it wasn't like I didn't have perfect grades already. Besides, this was Jackson. My first love. My first everything. He came back.

"Let's go." I pulled him along.

STILES' POV:

Anger coursed through me at the sight at Jackson. I hated him even more than Isaac that's for sure. He was outlandishly rude, arrogant, rich, and too fucking good looking. His face was all sharp edges and cuts. Well, so was his body. And Lydia just called me fat like five seconds ago.  
I hadn't felt inferior to Jackson Whitmore since sophomore year and I wasn't about to start back up now. But I did have to walk away because I couldn't kick his ass properly with a broken leg.

"Stiles?" Scott called after me.

I walked to the bathroom and sat on a sink.

Scott followed me. "Hey, you okay?"

"Are you okay with Allison still having feelings for Isaac?" She doesn't exactly like him but for her to remember him means as much.

He gave a slight nod. "No." He admitted. "But I have to be. Besides, that's different. We were actually together. She was my first love, Stiles."

"And Lydia's not mine?"

He shrugged. "You and Lydia were never together."

With a sigh I realized he was right and that pissed me off. "Look, I'm sorry. I just thought Lydia and I were finally in good place and then Jackson just shows up. Do you really think she doesn't still have feelings for him? He was her first after all."

"Stiles, do you see how Lydia looks at you now? She's there for you and we both know she's not going anywhere." His hand squeezed my shoulder. "So don't be that guy. Let Lydia explain to you what's going on. And if you make her cry this time I'll kick your ass."

I couldn't help but crack a grin. "Fine, thanks."

He grinned. "What are friends for?"

"Okay," Malia shoved the door open. "Enough girl talk." She pointed at me. "Don't be a dumbass. Lydia's never loved someone as much as she loved you." She gave me a stern look. "And if you make her cry I'll kick your ass."

Scott's eyes crinkled in laughter. "I already said that."

She looked at him. "Oh." She dragged him out of the bathroom. "You're coming with me, remember?"

He sent me a slightly nervous look and I wasn't sure if it was because he could tell I knew he felt something for Malia. I wasn't sure what yet, but something was there.

Malia pointed one of her claws at me. "If you make Lydia today it's your ass, Stilinski." She threatened as she backed out of the bathroom.

"Yeah. I got it." I muttered.

The rest of the day was like a nightmare. I had two more classes to get through and I wasn't sure if Lydia was coming back to get me. I knew she was with Jackson because her car was gone and Hayden texted me as much. I hoped that I was blowing this out of proportion because if Jackson coming back did mean the end of us then that would really suck. Like really suck. It would be like sophomore year all over again. Me chasing after Lydia. Her ignoring me. I shuddered at the thought.

When school let out she was a no show. I couldn't exactly walk home now could I? Well, I could, but I didn't want to.

I pulled my phone out to call my dad when Malia pulled up beside me.

"Hop in numbnuts."

I made a face. "Gee, thanks."

"I could've left your ass to hobble home like any sane ex-girlfriend, but I took pity on you. With a face like that you shouldn't be roaming the streets."

My eyes widened. "What does that mean?"

"It means that you have an attractive face that doesn't escape either sex. I don't think Lydia would take too kindly to my letting you get abducted into the black market."

Was this her attempt at making me feel better?

She produced a grin.

"Thanks." I looked down at the floor of the car. "My afternoon has been kind of sucky."

She drove out of the parking lot. "Sorry about earlier. You know I still love you, but I have to be firm with you now."

A chuckle left me. "And why is that?"

I took her in again. As bad as it sounded the blonde hair and makeup made all the difference. It wasn't like she was a beast to look at before. Now she just went the extra mile to look nicer. I wondered how long this would last?

"Because I have to keep you in line. Someone has to make sure you don't fudge up this thing you have going with Lydia."

You know I never really stopped to asked Malia how she felt about it, which was kind of a dick move on my part. And I kind of swept her under the rug lately. It wasn't intentional, but it wasn't like I wanted to hang out with my ex-girlfriend all the time, even though that's what we all did.

I looked to her. "If this is weird for you I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt you."

She glanced at me. "I know, Stiles." She gave a small grin. "I'm glad we had what we had. You really helped the transition a lot easier. And so did Scott."

My brow furrowed. "So," I let out a breath. "What did he say about your makeover?"

She shrugged. "Nothing really. He just said I looked nice." Her voice remained neutral, giving nothing away.

"Well, you look really pretty." I offered a smile.

She beamed. "Please, I look hot."

I laughed. "Yeah, you do." I encouraged.

When she dropped me off I asked her to come inside so we can talk about her aptitude test results, but she asked for a raincheck. Something about going by the Vet to see Deaton.

I knew my dad wasn't home so when I ordered pizza I ordered like five. Scott called and said Mason didn't want company, but he might stop by later if he was up for it. I figured everyone would come over here again.

Lydia was the last person I expected to see in my room when I finally got up the steps. She sat at my desk as she painted her nails a pale pink. Her jade eyes locked on mine as I stepped through the door.

"Hey," She greeted with nervous eyes.

I blew out a sigh. "Hey," I headed for my bed, dumped my bag on the floor.

She wheeled the computer chair over to me. "Are you upset with me?"

My head shook. "No."

Her head tilted to the side with a disbelieving look in her eyes. "Stiles, you practically stormed off earlier when Jackson appeared at school."

"Yeah, I kind of did." I kept my voice neutral. Truthfully, I was afraid to give anything away. What if she told me that Jackson was staying and she wanted to date him again? What if she told me I wasn't good enough? What if she told me that she had a momentary lapse in judgement and our whole friendship was a mistake?

"Please, say something more than that. I can't tell what you're feeling right now."

I shrugged. "I don't know what I'm feeling, Lydia. How about you tell me what you're feeling."

Her forehead creased. "You know, you're being kind of an ass."

I let out a wry laugh. "I'm sorry, did my totally hot and rich ex-girlfriend just come back from a different country to see me? And you did kind of leave school to spend the afternoon with him, right?"

She averted her eyes. "It wasn't like that. We just talked."

"Yeah, I got that part."

She looked at me with foreign eyes. "What is your problem? It's not like we're dating, Stiles."

There it was. The biggest slap in the face.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. My heart felt like it was in my throat. "You're right, we're not." I rose from my bed. "So what are you doing here?"

Her mouth dropped open in shock. "I kind of thought we were friends, I don't know why." She headed for the door, then turned around. "You know, I defended you. When Jackson laughed when I told him that I had feelings for you I defended you. I said you don't Stiles like I know Stiles. He was there for me through thick and thin. The funniest, smartest guy I know. But it turns out you have your head stuck up your ass."

I let out a surprised sigh at her cursing. "Well, excuse me for worrying that you'd fly back into Jackson's arms, which is what you did!"

"That's because he was my best friend growing up, my first boyfriend. What would've been comfortable for you?"

My head shook. "That's not fair. You didn't see what I saw."

She huffed, then crossed her arms. "What did you see, Stiles?"

I took a step back. "I saw two people who used to be in love run into each other's arms. It took me right back to sophomore year when you ignored me. When we weren't friends. When I annoyed you." I looked her in the eyes. "And that was really scary because that meant that I was back at square one. Without you."

Her green eyes softened and she got that look girls got when they thought something was so sweet.

"Don't give me that look. We're having an argument."

She swallowed her smile. "I don't want to get back together with Jackson, okay?" Her fingers twined with mine. "Besides, I loved Jackson, but not how I loved you." Her green eyes widened.

I stilled.

"Guys!" Isaac called from downstairs.

She took a step back with fear in her eyes before she dashed out the door.

I went after her. "Lydia!"

She was already down the stairs. "What the hell is happening to her?"

A curse left me as I tried my best to get down the stairs without hurting myself. When I got to my living room I found Argent, Isaac, and Lydia hovered over a sleeping Allison, only I wasn't so sure she was asleep.

Argent grabbed a flashlight. "Her eyes." He lifted the lid up and flashed the light in what appeared to be a completely black pupil.

I jumped back. "Woah. What the hell is that?"

Argent looked up at me. "I have no idea. But whatever it is it doesn't look good."

My mind went to Deaton. He was the only one we knew that knew about all of this creepy stuff. He may know of a solution.

"We can take her to Deaton's." I voiced.

Isaac picked her up.

"I thought he was still out of town." Argent said.

"Malia said she was going over there after she dropped me off. So let's get moving." I gestured towards the door.

Isaac walked her outside.

Argent followed quietly.

Lydia tried her best to speed past me like what she said earlier didn't come out of her mouth.

I grabbed her by the back of the shirt. "Where do you think you're going?" I pulled her back.

She struggled against my grip. "If you didn't have a bum leg I'd kick you. Let me go."

I chuckled. "No. Not until you explain to me what just happened."

She turned to me with her hands on her hips. "Well, you're the one that suggested we go to Deaton's in the first place."

I gave her a look.

Her eyes rolled. "Fine. I didn't mean to say what I said." She briefly looked at me then looked away.

My heart stilled. "So you didn't mean it?"

"That's not what I said." Her pink lips pursed. "It just slipped out. It's your fault." She finally looked me in the eyes. "You were all jealous and insecure and it was really cute." She turned and started for her car only it wasn't in sight. "I sort of parked a few streets over and started walking here on autopilot."

I wasn't sure what to make of that or anything she's told me in the last fifteen minutes.

"I'll go get it and come back and get you. Or you could sit this one out?"

"Not a chance."

"Alright." She headed down the driveway.

She was in love with me? Or she used to be? Either way I couldn't keep the grin off my face.

"Lydia?" I called.

She turned back to me.

"For the record, I didn't love Malia like how I loved you."

I wasn't sure if coming from my mouth that made me sound like a dick or not, but I said it anyway. Hell, it was true. And I wanted Lydia to know that she was special in my heart.

She nodded. "I know." She grinned and turned away from me.

A/N: To clarify Lydia never told Stiles that was _in love_ with him, but they have told each other they love each other. ALSO if you liked Scalia and you're looking for some cute fanvids I found some on YouTube of Scalia and Shelley and Tyler. I initially started to ship Shelley and Tyler after an Instagrammer made a post about it seeming like Tyler was in love with Shelley and if you watch that first video below you'll totally see ! Kind of projected those feels on Scalia, but these vids are proof that other people see the chemistry between them. It's not just me and that's a relief haha. Just copy and paste :

Shelley Hennig and Tyler Posey | Home

Scott & Malia | And Your Smile Is Shining Bright & | "You're the only one that I have left." wasted; malia & scott 


	14. If I Lost You

The song for this chapter is Shiny Toy Guns – If I Lost You

Thanks for your continued support guys!

STILES' POV: (Flash forward six months)

I kept shaking. This was too hard. All of this; leaving town, leaving Lydia, and seeing her like this. The Gahijis drove her out of her mind. They did something to her that changed her. They took her away from me. She had always been strong, but now she was stealthy and that was dangerous for us. I didn't know how to stop her if I couldn't hurt her. And I couldn't. Maybe if I hadn't been in love with her all my life this would be a lot easier, but I have been in love with her all my life, so no. This wasn't easy.

Tying her to a chair obviously didn't work. When Allison shock lashed her I felt no relief. And when they tied chains around her wrists and hung her from the ceiling I had to walk away. How could we let it get this far? Why didn't we just throw her back in Eichen? Eventually, she would've gotten out herself.

As I sat on the ground outside I let the crescent moon catch my attention, wishing I could fast forward to when this was all fixed, but I couldn't. Two months of searching and I still hadn't found anything to help me change her back. I knew she thought I gave up on her, on our home, but I couldn't stay there and do nothing. When I left after graduation it was the hardest thing I had to do. I wanted to be by her side so she knew she wasn't alone and I wanted to help her get through this, but the guilt of what I done weighed on me. I left her voicemails sporadically the first month I was gone, but after that I couldn't bear to hear her voice until I found a solution. Yet here I was when Isaac called. When she laid those hazel eyes on me back at the hotel I knew she still thought I failed her.

The heavy door slid open.

"Hey," Scott nodded before he sat next to me. "Do you want to talk to her alone?"

My head shook. "What am I going to say, Scott? Sorry when I tried to save you I got your mom killed? I'm sure that'll go over nicely." I spat.

His hand squeezed my shoulder. "It wasn't your fault, Stiles. Lydia knows that deep down. She's just angry and scared. I think on some level she knows she's brainwashed, but she can't admit it. And being bitter and cold is her way of coping. I'm not sure I would've been able to handle seeing what she saw. I'm not sure if in her position I wouldn't be the same." His brown eyes gleamed with honesty.

I knew he was right. She had been through a lot. When they kidnapped her I was frantic and when she came back I was filled with sorrow because she was different.

"How are we going to help her?" I asked. "She literally has a burning urge to kill all of us on sight. How do we fix that?"

He shrugged. "We'll figure something out. We always do."

I sighed as I looked up at the sky. "Just promise me you'll try not to hurt her."

"Of course."

"Promise Malia won't slap her again."

He chuckled. "Since when have I been able to stop Malia from doing anything?"

My head turned to look at him and I gave a knowing look. "You protect the ones you love the most the hardest. So protect Malia before Lydia goes _Mortal Kombat_ on her ass."

"Good advice." He stood up.

A black van pulled up.

I rose. "Did you call _him_?"

He looked to me. "Of course."

"I was beginning to get a little worried that I wouldn't get an invitation." Peter smirked as he stepped out of the van.

My eyes couldn't roll hard enough.

"He has to know something," Scott shoved his hands in his jean pockets. "It's Peter."

Peter strolled his way to us. "Where's Red?"

My irritation rose. "She's strawberry blonde and you know that." I gave him a look.

He shoved past us and into the warehouse. "She won't be either if we can't screw her head back on."

With a huff Scott turned to me. "As much as I hate to admit it, he's right. We can't let her go."

I took a step towards him. "What are you saying? That if we can't fix her then we have to kill her?"

"I don't know what I'm saying anymore." He looked at me with lost eyes. "We'll try to save her, but if she breaks free and tries to kill one of us we'll do what we have to."

I shoved him back into building. "You're not killing her!"

"She's strong now, Stiles! She's trained to slaughter and that's what she'll do if we don't keep her locked up!" He pushed me back. "I don't like this anymore than you do, okay. Trust me, I know what it feels like to have someone you love try and kill you. I get it. We have to think about everyone else in that room."

My mind went back to when Allison was controlled by Gerard after her mom died, to when Liam tried to kill him when Hayden died, to when I tried to kill him as the Nogitsune.

With a curse I nodded. "Okay."

He patted me on the back, his brown eyes trying to calm mine down. "Now let's go get her back." He lead us inside.

LYDIA'S POV:

I drove my car up Stiles' driveway as fast as I could without ramming into his house.

He locked the front door before rushing to the car. "What took you so long?" He slid in with a pained face.

My eyes focused on his leg as guilt sat in my chest. No matter how many times Stiles told me he was fine and that he didn't blame me for pushing him into the trap I still couldn't shake the shame. He told me his pain meds were working and that's what he told the Doctor yesterday at his checkup, but I think he lied.

I blinked a few times when I recalled his question. "Oh. I forgot where I parked so I ran around the neighborhood until I found my car." I gave a sheepish look as I backed out of his driveway and pulled onto the road.

"Did you know Jackson was coming back?" Stiles asked out of the blue.

I glanced at him. "Not a clue. We haven't talked in a long time. In some ways he's changed a lot, but in others he hasn't."

His brows rose. "Like what?"

"He's still cocky as hell." I grinned. "But he's not as self-involved. I think he learned how to love while he was gone. He told me about a friend that helped him find his way." I blinked back to sting of tears. "She died trying to save his life." As we came to a red light I held Stiles' gaze. "I think he was in love with her and he came back here because besides her we were his only family."

He looked sadden by the news, but he said, "We're not his family, Lyds. You are. He came back here for you."

"No, he came back for a pack. He doesn't know what he's doing anymore. He needs us, Stiles. Scott's not going to turn his back on him. Not unless someone tells him to." I tried to assess if he would be that person. "Do I have to worry about you?"

"Come on," His hands gestured in the air. "Nine times out of ten everyone that comes looking for something from us is bad. Kate. Peter. The Alpha Pack. The dead pool. Theo. We can't trust everyone, even if we think we know them. It's not like Jackson was the best guy to begin with when he lived here."

I gave him a look. "Jackson never wanted to hurt people. He just wanted power."

His eyes widened. "Exactly. Those actually go one and the same. Everyone that wants power ends up piling up bodies."

The light turned green.

My head shook as I drove forward. "He's not like that anymore."

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, he spoke up when I pulled into the parking lot.

"I'll give him a shot."

I looked to him.

His honey eyes burned into mine. "For you."

I tried to fight the grin that came to my lips, but it won out. My hand reached for his face. "One of the many reasons I love you."

His brow rose and he shot me a smirk. "I'm so using this against you later."

My eyes rolled as I pushed his face away. "And now we're back to me thinking you're annoying." I opened my car door with a red face.

"Okay okay," He grabbed my hand. "I'm being a dick, but give me a little time to be cocky. For some reason I got Lydia Martin to fall for me." His eyes searched mine. "I don't know what in the world I'd do without you, Lyds. Forgive me for trying to hold onto you." He looked at me with lost puppy dog eyes.

At that my heart softened. Dammit. He was so adorable.

His hand cupped my face and I forgot how to breath. "You already know how I feel about you." He gave a wry grin. "I've been in love with you my whole life. I'm just scared that if I let myself be happy with you for even a second you won't feel that way anymore. If I lost you…"

I leaned forward without thinking about the consequences. My lips took hold of his like I did in the locker room, like I've wanted to do so many times before. I wasn't aiming to seduce him in the parking lot, I just wanted him to stop worrying. Who was I kidding? I also wanted a taste of him.

He groaned in my mouth. "Lydia," He said in between kisses. "Not here. Not right now. Not like this." He pulled away. Desire sat in his whiskey eyes. Ten years' worth of desire. "Remember when I said after this is all over I'm taking you on a date?"

I nodded, unable to form words. I forgot how excellent of a kisser he was. I just wanted to devour him.

"Well, I still stand by that. We're going to do this the proper way. We're not skipping over anything because I want to date you, woman."

A laugh bubbled out of me. "You do, huh?"

He grinned along with me. "The gentlemanly way. So throwing yourself at me stops here. Deal?" He held out his hand.

Reluctantly, I shook it. "Fine."

He gave me a knowing look.

"Deal." I laughed.

He nodded. "Okay, now you should probably go inside."

Good idea.

I closed my car door when I noticed he hadn't moved. "Are you coming?"

"Give me a minute, I'm sure I'll get there." He shot daggers at me.

My hand covered my mouth as I tried to stifle my laugh. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry."

He nodded. "So am I."

I scurried inside while I tried to contain my amusement.

Please leave a review/comment/or inbox with any critiques, comments, or suggestions/prompts.


	15. New Scalia Fic Posted

Hey yall so I decided to post a new Scalia fic. I think I'm going to keep Scalia in this fic as well, but I figured why not start a new one. I'm not sure how long that one will be, but it's under Whenever You're Ready on my profile :) Please check it out and let me know what you think :)


	16. Elements

Matthew Mayfield - Elements

MALIA'S POV:

Present

I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. This was important. I never felt so nervous in my life.

We walked over to the guidance office.

"It's okay to be nervous." He told me.

I looked at him with scared eyes, then gave a nod as I pushed forward into the office.

Ms. Smith grinned at me. Bless her heart, she could barely see past her nose. "Malia, I have your results." She handed me an envelope. "Here you go."

"Thank you." I took the envelope with hesitant hands and turned back to Scott. All day my stomach had been in knots about these results and now that I had them I didn't think I could open them.

He looked around the room, anywhere but at me. "You done?"

Had I done something to piss him off?

He finally looked down at me with hard eyes.

Whatever.

I nodded as I pushed past him.

"Hello," I pushed the front door open to the Vet. "Deaton?"

He walked into the lobby. "Oh, yes. Malia," He grinned. "Scott said you'd be stopping by. So you're interested in working here?"

I shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. I'm shooting in the dark here."

He gave me a knowing look. "Okay. Well, how about we try you out and see if you like it by the end of the week?"

That sounded like a not so bad idea.

"Wow, thanks." I gave him a friendly grin. I listened for other heartbeats, but it was no use because of all the animals in the back, but I still knew Scott wasn't here. His scent lingered, but it wasn't strong. As the Alpha he had a distinct and masculine scent that we could all detect, except for Stiles and Lydia.

"Does Scott work today?"

Deaton looked at his watch. "He's on his way. If you'd like he could show you the ropes?"

I nodded. I had a bone to pick with him. Why had he been acting so weird today? It was like I had cooties.

Deaton showed me around and then the doorbell chimed. The scent of the Alpha filled the place.

His brown eyes met mine, but he didn't smile or do anything friendly. "Hey,"

"Hey," My eyes narrowed.

Deaton cleared his throat. "Scott, show Malia how to clean and disinfect the cages. The Singer dog is no longer with us."

Scott's sad eyes went to the floor as he nodded. He led the way to the cages with a sad stench. He started on the cage while he gave me instructions, things to bring him, things to make sure I did when an animal left.

I tried to rein in the crazy, but yesterday we were completely fine and now he was all weird. I had to know why.

"What's going on with you today?" I asked him as he finished up.

His forehead creased. "I don't know what you mean." He kept his eyes focused, purposely not on me. He'd been like that all day.

"Is this about the other night?" I whispered. "Because I didn't mean to cry all over you. You were just there."

His eyes snapped to mine. "Ouch."

I gave him a look. "Tell me what's bothering you. Is it something I did?"

His brown eyes softened as comforting grin sprouted. "You didn't do anything."

"I find that hard to believe being as you haven't paid me a bit of attention today."

His grin turned into a laugh. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize my attention meant so much to you."

My hand punched his shoulder. "Don't be an ass." I smiled. "It just seemed like you were annoyed with me today and…" My eyes went to the table. "I didn't know if it was because of that night. Am I clingy?"

"What?" He looked taken aback. "No, you're not clingy." His brow furrowed. "Did Stiles tell you that you're clingy?"

I shook my head. "If he did I'd punch him in the face."

"I'd punch him for you." He grinned.

A bead of appreciation filled my heart. I never had anyone like Scott in my life. Stiles and I weren't friends before we dated so I wasn't sure what was acceptable to do with Scott. I didn't have any ground rules to follow. It wasn't like I wanted to have hot and sweaty sex with him.

"So we're good?" My eyes went to him.

He nodded. "We're good."

"Okay, good." I reached in my back pocket and pulled out the envelope. "Because I still need you when I open this."

His forehead creased. "You haven't opened it yet?"

"You were kind of a dick earlier, so no I haven't opened it."

An apologetic look took over his face, making him look really adorable. "Sorry, Lia."

I stared the envelope that held my future. This was it. After it was opened I'd know who I was supposed to be. This was what I wanted the moment I turned back to human. So why I was so hesitant now?

Scott's hand paused on mine, his eyes caught mine. "You don't have to open that." He took a few steps closer until we were practically face to face. "Some test won't tell you who you're meant to be."

"But if it doesn't tell me who I am how am I supposed to know?"

His hand tightened around mine. "You don't need some test to define you because _I_ know who you are, Lia."

I searched his face. "How is that you know me so well and I don't even know myself?"

He gave a half grin. "I pay attention."

Without warning my face flushed. I wasn't sure what to say to that.

"I mean," He cleared his throat and removed his hand from mine. "You're one of my best friends. Of course, I pay attention."

My eyes searched his face for a better understanding of why he was giving off nervous pheromones. He wasn't nervous. His heartbeat was normal. He wasn't moving over his words or sweating. So why was he nervous?

We looked at the unexpectant entrance of Isaac carrying Allison in his arms. He set her on the table.

"What happened?" Scott rushed to her a side.

"We don't know." Chris said. "Her eyes are black. It just happened."

Deaton did what Deaton usually did and grabbed some herbs to sprinkle around Allison's body.

Her eyes snapped open and Chris was right. They were fully black. Creepy. Perhaps even demonic. She was brought back from the dead and somehow we expected her to be normal.

I growled at her.

Scott looked back at me along with everyone else. He flashed his Alpha eyes until I calmed down. I watched as his hand grabbed hers and it felt like stab in gut for some reason.

"Woah," Scott muttered. "Her eyes are back to normal."

We all took a closer step. He was right.

I looked at Isaac to see if put together what I had put together, but he hadn't. He was too focused on Allison.

Lydia busted through the door with a huge grin on her face that fell the moment she saw Allison. "Crap. Is she back to normal?"

"Define normal." Deaton looked at her. "One does not usually come back from the dead, but there are rare occasions. I've heard of Druids bringing back soldiers and using them for their own benefit, but we've already done the Druid thing, so that's probably not it."

I fought off my grin. I wasn't exactly here for that, but I heard Jennifer was one ugly broad.

I looked around the room again. "Where's Stiles?"

Scott met my eyes before he looked to Lydia.

There was a loud crash from outside and a scream.

"You had to ask." Isaac commented.

We rushed outside to find a car had rammed into the side of Lydia's car. The engine was steaming and there was a faint smell of gas. I ran to see if Stiles was okay, but there was no one here.

"They took him." I pieced together. "The Gahijis took Stiles." Panic rose in me.

Everyone looked around, but there was no sign of them.

"Malia, get back-" Scott demanded.

Oh no. The smell of gasoline.

Before I had time to register what that I had to flee the cars blew up. I fell back with something heavy on me. It was Scott. He covered my body with his as the flames licked above us.


	17. Everywhere I Go

The song for this chapter is Lissie- Everywhere I go.

MALIA'S POV:

My ears were ringing from the explosion.

"Scott," I breathed out, my eyes were on his. Our bodies were closer than they'd ever been. My heart pounded rapidly while the blood flowed in my ears.

He groaned in agony as the flames danced on his back while he shielded me from the fire. I clutched him to me and rolled over so that it was my back that was burning to a crisp.

"Ahhhh!" I screamed.

"Lia," He glared into my eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Protecting you." I spoke through the pain.

The fire produced thick smoke in the air.

His eyes burned red as picked me up and ran us until we were clear of the smoke. We had already inhaled a lot of, naturally we fell to the ground with lung-burning coughs.

When I was able to speak I threw a punch at his arm. "What the hell is your problem?"

"Where are they?" Someone said from the distance.

Scott gave me an incredulous look. "Huh?"

"If you die trying to save me I'll kick your ass." I kicked his leg for good measure before I fully collapsed on the ground.

He gave a relieved grin. He laid beside me. "You were to get hurt. I couldn't let that happen."

My heart skipped a bet as our eyes locked. He was covered in black smoke marks and burnt clothing, but somehow he looked eye-openingly handsome. I mean, this was Scott...who probably just saved my life on top of all the other times. This was Scott who wouldn't give up on me until I was human, until I knew right from wrong, until I cared cared about him. The Alpha that must be protected at all costs because I didn't know what I'd do without him.

I let out a wry laugh then looked up at the sky. This wasn't happening to me.

"Guys, they're over here!"

Everyone came running to our aid while they asked a multitude of questions. None of which I was able to answer. I just needed a minute to regroup.

Stiles was gone and they tried to take us down with him in the process.

"What are they doing to him?" Lydia cried into Isaac's chest.

He rubbed her back with a knowing look.

"We're going to find him." Chris assured.

Police sirens sounded from nearby.

We all tensed when we realized that we had to tell the Sheriff that his son had been kidnapped. Again. Crap.

Luckily enough the first officer to show up was Parrish. He freaked out when we told him what happened, but he used his walkie to signal that the explosion was taken care of, but that the Sheriff needed to get here.

Once we made our way back inside Scott and I sat on the table as Deaton rubbed some salve he made on us. Scott looked over at me with his sensitive brown eyes. He scanned my face. I was grateful that he didn't bother asking me if I was okay, he just knew that I wasn't.

I layed my head on his shoulder.

LYDIA'S POV:

"Where the hell is Stiles?" I demanded.

Scott had ran off after Malia like a bat oyt of Hell, but we still didn't know where Stiles was.

I tried to run into the fire to see if he was passed out or something, but Isaac pulled me back. "What's killing yourself going to do for Stiles?"

"I have to try! It's _Stiles._ "

"Lydia, he's gone." His blue eyes begged mine to understand. "They took him."

My head shook. "No..." I cried. "Why would they do that?"

He hugged me to him. "I don't know."

SCOTT'S POV:

After dealing with Stiles' dad I felt an ounce better. We decided it was best to notify surrounding police forces of his disappearance. Deaton advised us to keep it under the radar for the sake of keeping the supernatural safe, but Sheriff wasn't going for that. They were doing a sweep of the town now.

I paced the room. It was the only thing keeping me at bay. My best friend got kidnapped by holier than though hunters. I wasn't okay. Every so often my eyes went to Malia to make sure she was okay as she sat on the table.

"Is there some kind of tracking herb you have on hand?" Malia asked Deaton.

He gave her a look. "Oh, yes. I have a spell up my sleeve that I've been sitting on for hours."

Everyone stopped to stare at his snarky remark. Deaton never used sarcasm.

Malia looked a little hurt by his response so I gave him a look to signal he should apologize.

He shook his head. "Sorry. Stiles is like a son to me. I'm worried about him, too."

Malia slid off the table with a huff. "Well, we have to do something. It's _Stiles._ "

We all looked at each other.

Allison cleared her throat. "I think I can find him." She raised her hand awkwardly.

Lydia and Malia walked over to her.

"What do you mean?" Lydia asked.

Allison let out a shaky breath as she looked to Isaac. "My psychic ability. It's still pretty new, but what if I can channel Stiles or track him."

"How do you propose we do that?" Liam asked. "If you don't know how to control your visions how are you going to make up a new use for it?" Hostility filled his voice.

I took a step towards him, but kept my distance. We hadn't talked about the other day yet. I had forgiven him, but obviously there was still things that needed to be said. Especially, on his part.

"Liam," I warned.

"What?" He snapped at me. "While she's trying to create a new skill set to find Stiles we should be out there looking for him!"

I stood in front of him. "I understand that you're angry, but-"

"Damn right, I'm angry! They killed Corey and they're tried to kill you guys. They took _Stiles._ He's harmless. Who are they going to take next?"

Hayden shot me an apologetic look.

Isaac stepped forward and I didn't think that was smart considering Liam didn't trust him or like him.

"He has a right to be mad, Scott. You all do." He looked around at each of us. "So let's come up with a plan that gets Stiles back and stops these guys once and for all."

It was hard to argue with that.

Lydia turned to Isaac. "Would they keep him in town or take him somewhere else?"

His face hardened. "Definitely out of town. After you guys rescued me and Argent shot them to shit they wouldn't run that risk again."

Silence fell on the room.

"So basically we don't have a way of tracking them?" Hayden asked.

"If Allison thinks she can do this then we should let her." Malia insisted.

Allison gave her a grateful grin.

Chris squeezed her shoulder. "Honey, I believe in you, but you've only had one vision. How do you know you can do this?"

There was absolute doubt in the air.

"I have to try. He was nice to me." She looked to Isaac. "Even though you don't like him."

He gave a sad half grin. "Yesh, but I never wanted him to get abducted." He paused. "I have an idea." He stepped forward. "We set a trap. Use me as bait."

"Not an option." I neared Malia for support. "We'll figure something out." I looked to Allison and nodded.

She gave me a soft smile.

Malia sighed, then looked to me. "We're going to find him, Scott."

I looked down at her with a furrowed brow sensing something wrong with her. She was good at hiding things. All I knew was that if something happened to her ealier I'd be devastated. As she looked back at me right now it felt like she felt the same. She did beat me up after all.

"Okay," Lydia rubbed her hands together. "Let's get started." She looked to Allison.

A/N:so my laptop screen is coming apart and I had to write this all on my phone because I have to send it to the company to be fixed...I don't know how long it'll be for the next update


	18. Warm Shadow

The song for this chapter is Fink – Warm Shadow

STILES' POV:

My head lolled forward as I woke with a startle. I sucked in a large amount of air with a gasp. A moment later I registered the pain in my head. My eyes focused on the blurry objects around me.

Where was I?

"You're awake. Good." An unfamiliar voice said.

My eyes searched around the room until they settled on a figure leaning against a table. He pushed off it to walk near me. "Mr. Stilinski," He deadpanned. "What you're probably wondering is what is the reason for you being here?"

I noticed the gun holstered to his hip and struggled against the chair I was tied to, but the ropes were tight.

"Well, I was wondering if someone owed you money, but I see all the religious fixtures in here and I could guess you're a Gahiji."

This place could've been a church with all the religious fixtures.

"So I'm the bait?" I offered. "You want my friends to come for me? You want them all dead?"

He stroked his rosary with a tight expression. "More or less."

I gave a wry grin. "Because we're all so unholy to be good? You have to exterminate anything beyond the normal human realm?"

"It's not that simple, Stiles. Can I call you Stiles?"

I shrugged. I had a feeling he would anyway. It wasn't like I could stop him.

"What you're missing here is the big picture." He gestured to his surroundings. "We're not just some extreme religious nuts. No," He stepped closer. "We are hunters, just like the Argents were. The disgrace that lot is now, cavorting with the enemy." He spat out in disgust. "Are you aware how many people die every year in supernatural related events? How many innocent people die?"

No one was entirely innocent I had come to learn. Even Lydia had killed Valeck. Blood was still blood. And blood must have blood. My mind momentarily went to the show Mason and I watched that night they went to go get who we thought was Derek, but was really Isaac. The show was The 100. A common phrase the Grounders lived by was Jus Drein Jus Daun; Blood must have blood. I wasn't sure how that helped me right now, but it played over in my mind.

My head shook to his question.

"One thousand plus every year because of werewolves. Because of Kitsune. Because of Nogitsune. Look at how many people died because of the Nogitsune. That demon resulted in a fallen Argent."

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him that Allison was alive. Weird, but alive. Somehow, telling him that probably wouldn't get me out of this situation, so I kept my mouth shut.

"Going back to ancient Egypt, my ancestors were tasked with the responsibility of ridding the bloodlines of impurity and protecting the innocent. It's not our intention to murder teenagers or children, but when death follows them everywhere they go then they deem to be a problem."

His dark brown eyes matched his cropped hair. The grays were perhaps the only indication towards his age, he looked fairly young. I supposed ending lives feeds yours.

"And you know as well as I do that your _pack_ have a lot of blood on their hands. You have a lot of blood on your hands."

A tiny part of me knew he was right, that part I was ashamed of. While the other part knew it wasn't that simple. Every life or death situation we've faced was circumstantial.

I sat as tall as I could manage in my wooden chair. "Then you know as well as I do that the supernatural is attracted to Beacon Hills. We are there to protect it. We do the be can and _that's_ why Allison Argent died and Chris Argent decided he'd help us rather than hunt us. We are not the bad guys here."

He pointed at himself. "And I am?"

"We aren't looking to kill anyone." I shoved at him.

His finger turned in my direction. "But you did, Stiles."

My heart thudded in my chest. How did he know about that? No one outside the pack knew.

"Donavan. You kill him, right?" He said matter-of-factly with a straight face.

Bile rose in my throat at the time in my life when everything – and I mean everything – was shit.

"It was self-defense. He tried to kill me, he wanted to eat me alive. I didn't kill him in cold blood, which is what you're trying to do to us. How is that any better?" My teeth gritted together from the abundant pain in my leg.

He nodded. "Interesting view, but you're failing to see the bigger picture here." He took a long breath for dramatic affect. "We don't want to kill your pack. We're under a new rule as of late and now we see the potential in everyone. Even someone like Theo Raeken."

My head shook. I didn't understand.

He came behind me, his breath hot on the back of my head as he laid his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. "Like I said Stiles. We don't want to kill you or your friends." He leaned down so his breath was on my neck. "We want you to be one of us." He patted my shoulder with a hint of a laugh while he walked away.

A/N: I know it's short yall, but if I didn't update today I wouldn't have time in the next few days to write at all. Have a nice weekend yall J Please leave a review/comment on your thoughts/critiques/comments/prompts.


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